Oriental Rugs

Tanavoli Iran's Greatest sculptor to Show Persian Rugs in Dubai

2011-12-04T10:55:00.001-05:00

I have had the privilege of knowing Parviz Tanavoli for many years. In all that time despite being Iran's greatest sculptor and a huge commercial success Tanavoli has never lost his love for the traditional hand woven village and tribal rugs of the Iranian people. In 2005 Tanavoli and I vigorously lobbied the Iranian Ministry of Commerce in Tehran to preserve and protect the authentic village art of the Persian people. It is exciting to see his continued efforts to preserve the essential art form of the people of Iran. In many ways Tanavoli is to Persian Art what the Imam Khomeini was to Persian Shia Islam. When each returned from exile they changed the country and the world.

Tanavoli to showcase his Persian carpets in Dubai

Art Desk

On Line: 03 December 2011 15:40
In Print: Sunday 04 December 2011

TEHRAN -- The Iranian Etemad Gallery in Dubai will be hanging a collection of Persian carpets created by veteran Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli from December 9-14.

Highlighting the significance of Persian carpets and its beautiful designs and patterns, the exhibit will be narrating part of the history of Persian carpets.

Known as the country’s first significant modern sculptor, Tanavoli has concentrated on old pictorial carpets which have been replaced with modern designs these days, the Persian service of ILNA reported on Saturday.

Tanavoli is the author of “Persian Flatweaves”, the first comprehensive survey on Persian carpets and the exhibit is trying to show part of these old flatweaves.

Flatweaves have until recently been seen as merely the products and property of the poor. Since the late 1960s, however, growing attention has been paid to the best known type of flatweave, the kilim, revealing both its quality and variety.

Antique Oriental Rugs

2011-11-21T10:05:00.000-05:00

Oriental Rugs

Antique Oriental Rugs

Antique Oriental rugs have always been synonymous with exotic luxury, elegant design, and a comfortable, highly aestheticized environment. From the earliest times, humans have needed to embellish and ornament the circumstances in which they lived, and the medium of woven carpets soon emerged to meet such requirements. Carpet production is attested from ancient times. Flatwoven floor coverings are probably as old as textiles and architecture. The oldest knotted pile carpets can be attested by the sixth century B.C., but their production may well be considerably older. Some experts believe that pile carpets originated among tent-dwelling nomadic peoples to the east of Central Asia as a more decorative substitute for animal hides, providing comfort and insulation as well as decoration. Carpet making reached the Near East through contact with such nomadic peoples. Since relations between Central Asian nomads and the Near East were more or less constant, the production of pile carpets in the latter region was probably stimulated and influenced by nomadic traditions again and again.

Antique Oriental Rugs

This process first becomes clear in the medieval period, between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries, when various Central and East Asian peoples like the Turks and Mongols came to power across the eastern Islamic world, bringing with them traditions of carpet making that were by now many centuries old. The earliest Near Eastern carpets of this kind are those of Seljuk Turkey and those made in Iran under the Mongol and Timurid dynasties. Carpets of this kind now began to have highly complex designs influenced by contemporary textiles, especially silks.

Antique Oriental Rugs

From this period on, the knotted pile carpet became an increasingly standard feature of Islamic art and high culture, and soon it captured the attention of wealthy Europeans as well. Already by the thirteenth century merchant travelers like Marco Polo remarked on the beauty of the Oriental carpets they encountered on their journeys, and soon such carpets began to be imported into Venice and thence to the rest of Europe. While actual early carpets of this kind are rarely preserved, European painting by the great masters from Giotto and Ghirlandaio to Holbeim, van Eyck, Lotto, and Vermeer constantly depict carpets from Turkey and Iran. Such paintings document the importance that the Oriental rug had attained by this time as a quintessential symbol of cosmopolitan taste and affluence. So valued were these carpets that there were various attempts to imitate or adapt them in Europe.

Antique Oriental Rugs

After the seventeenth century Europeans briefly lost interest in the Oriental carpet. This probably reflected developments in the Near and Middle East, where all the great ruling dynasties collapsed or went into regression, bringing about a corresponding roll-back in the quantity and quality of carpet production. During this hiatus European carpet production was stepped up, creating the Aubusson and Savonnerie types in a Neo-Classical western style. Carpet production in Spain, which had begun under Muslim rule in the Middle Ages, also moved in to meet the European demand for rugs.

Antique Oriental Rugs

In the second half of the nineteenth century, rug weaving in Iran went into a great period of revival under the highly retrospective Qajar dynasty, re-awakening the European interest for Oriental rugs and creating a new American market for them as well. This eventually led to a revival or expansion of carpet production in Turkey and also a revival of Indian carpet weaving under British rule. At this time Chinese rugs, whose production went back to ancient times, finally became known in quantity to European and American markets.

Antique Oriental Rugs

From that time on the western world became used to an endless variety of Oriental rugs and carpets whose production continues into the present time. The most notable recent developments are the revival of vegetable dyes and hand-spinning of wool, which had largely died away in the course of the twentieth century. Such new productions capture much of the quality and original flavor of antique Oriental rugs. But only a genuine antique can preserve the soul and spirit of weaving Oriental rugs, an art form that reaches back virtually unbroken to the earliest times. Antique Oriental rugs are not only objects of great beauty and rarity; they are a much-needed bridge to a bygone world of consummate skill and expressiveness that is vastly different from the mass-culture of modern western experience.

Abdi Parvizian liable for son’s debt of $2 million

2008-08-06T17:56:00.000-04:00

Retailer liable for son’s debt of $2 million

Appeals court addresses clash in federal rules

STEVE LASH

Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

August 5, 2008 6:54 PM

The owner of a Chevy Chase home furnishings store is on the hook for a $2 million debt incurred by his son’s company, a federal appeals court affirmed.

Abdi Parvizian, owner of Parvizian Masterpieces, did not deny that he guaranteed the debt to manufacturer Nourison Rug Corp. Instead, he argued that Nourison released him from his obligation by giving his son, a rug wholesaler, more time to pay.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

“Forbearance should be encouraged as a matter of policy as it is a creditor’s compromise between accepting no payment and entering into costly litigation,” the court stated.

First, though, it said Parvizian waited too long to raise the defense. He should have included it in his original answer to Nourison’s lawsuit, the appeals court held.

The 3-0 decision affirmed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, who declined to let Parvizian amend his answer.

Rules clash

In the process, the 4th Circuit addressed for the first time what it characterized as a clash between competing provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

While one rule gives defendants leeway to amend their answers except when the amendment is in bad faith or would be futile, another gives judges broad discretion to reject amended pleadings in order to keep the court on schedule.

Parvizian argued that the liberal standards of Rule 15(a) should apply. Chasanow, though, applied Rule 16(b), which requires the defendant to show “good cause” why the amendment should be allowed.

The 4th Circuit came down on the side of judicial discretion.

“Given their heavy case loads, district courts require the effective case management tools provided by Rule 16,” the 4th Circuit held last week. “Therefore, after the deadlines provided by a scheduling order have passed, the good cause standard must be satisfied to justify leave to amend the pleadings.”

Parvizian lacked good cause for amending his initial answer, the 4th Circuit held.

The circumstances surrounding the underlying agreement and Parvizian’s promise to serve as guarantor did not change between the time he first answered the complaint and when he subsequently sought to raise the defense of release.

Parvizian argued that the circumstances had in fact changed, but the appellate court rejected that argument.

Parvizian’s attorney, Thomas A. DiBiase, declined to comment on the case. DiBiase is a partner at Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram PC in Washington, D.C.

No good cause

The original debt-payment agreement was signed in August 2005, when Allen Parvizian’s company, Parinco of Virginia Inc., owed Nourison more than $2.3 million. Parinco was to make biweekly payments of about $50,000 for two years.

Two months later, Abdi Parvizian executed a guaranty letter promising full payment if Parinco defaulted.

But unknown to him, the guarantor said, Nourison and Parinco changed the terms in February 2006. Under the new schedule, reached in an e-mail exchange, Parinco was to pay a past-due balance of $18,219 and make one subsequent payment of $56,000, followed by biweekly payments of $25,000.

Parvizian argued that this changed the nature of the debt, increasing his exposure and thus releasing him from his obligation as guarantor.

But the 4th Circuit agreed with Nourison, which said the agreement was merely a “temporary forbearance” to decelerate the debt-payment schedule and did not relieve Parvizian of his obligation to cover any default in full.

“Therefore, there was no error in finding that the facts did not support satisfaction of the ‘good cause’ standard” for permitting Parvizian to amend his answer, the 4th Circuit added.

Crags Sheltering Margon Waterfall

2008-07-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

Crags Sheltering Margon Waterfall

Margon Waterfall is
located in Margon Village,
Fars province. It is one of the most beautiful falls of Iran.
The fall of water
in this waterfall has
created an
unparalleled scene.

PETAG Tabriz Carpet makes Dh1.3m at UAE Auction

2007-11-24T09:03:00.000-05:00

UAE : Auction raises Dh1.3m for unique Persian carpet November 24, 2007
The International auction held in Abu Dhabi witnessed the bidding for a magnificent and unique Persian carpet, which grossed a massive Dh1.3 million.The carpet was identified as belonging to a small group of an extensively large Persian carpet made by the popular Tabriz workshops of the German company PETAG. The carpet sized 701x466 cm was ordered by a group of individuals representing Germany.Researchers believe that the discovery of this carpet will fill in the space of a very significant Persian carpet masterpiece. This group of carpets has been acknowledged as one of the largest and the most amazing works of the period.

Local Rug Dealer Announces Launch of Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection

2006-09-07T14:08:00.000-04:00

Local Rug Dealer Announces Launch of Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection - Oriental Rug Bazaar to Open New High End Rug Showroom : ArriveNet Press Releases : Industry: "Local Rug Dealer Announces Launch of Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection - Oriental Rug Bazaar to Open New High End Rug Showroom
Local Rug Dealer Announces Launch of Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection. Oriental Rug Bazaar to Open New High End Rug Showroom Oriental Rug Bazaar (5525 Westheimer) is pleased to announce the opening of the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection showroom, a 1...
Distribution Source : PRWeb

Date : Friday, May 27, 2005

(PRWEB) May 27, 2005 -- Oriental Rug Bazaar (5525 Westheimer) is pleased to announce the opening of the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection showroom, a 10,000 square foot treasure palace for the serious rug collector.

"There is a great demand for specialty antique rugs in our region," said Oriental Rug Bazaar owner Alan Taghdisi. "I"ve taken my personal rug collection and combined it with the premier pieces from a long time European collector to create the most exclusive antique rug collection available."

This multi-million dollar collection is currently being displayed and sold at Alan Taghdisi's showrooms in Houston, New York, and Los Angeles. Mr. Taghdisi"s Houston showroom will be located inside the 30,000 square foot Oriental Rug Bazaar building and will be unveiled in September of this year.

"We are preparing a special showroom to cater to the discerning needs of the high end rug collector. Quality and over-service will be our hallmark," Taghdisi added.

The Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection consists of the following:

Antique oushaks, serapi, Tabriz haji jalili, lavar, kirmanshah, ferahan, French aubussons, French tapestries, Mohtasham kashans wool and silk, Turkish hereke, and Agra all over 100 years old. Sizes range from 2' x 3' to 18" x 26"; all in emaculate condition.

It is widely believed by the leading auction houses and prominent antique collectors that the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection is the finest and largest for a single collector in the world.

For more information on the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection or to make an appointment call 713 960 9070."

Updated Guide to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles

2006-08-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

p>href="http://www.persiancarpetguide.com/sw-asia/Rugs/Kyrgyz/Kyrgyz.htm">Guide
to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles

I just updated the Guide to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles page and
expanded the section to add examples and to relate the Kirghiz to
their neighbors.

Updated Guide to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles

2006-08-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

p>href="http://www.persiancarpetguide.com/sw-asia/Rugs/Kyrgyz/Kyrgyz.htm">Guide
to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles

I just updated the Guide to Kyrgyz Rugs and Textiles page and
expanded the section to add examples and to relate the Kirghiz to
their neighbors.

A.B.C. Carpet Co., Inc., et al. v Mehdi Naeini

2006-06-18T20:11:00.000-04:00

A.B.C. Carpet Co., Inc., et al. v Mehdi Naeini
Case No. 00-CV-4882 (FB), 2002 U.S. Dist. Lexis 1129 (E.D.N.Y., January 22, 2002)
Court denies plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, seeking to hold defendant liable for trademark infringement, as well as for violations of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ("ACPA"), as a result of defendant's use of plaintiffs' trademark "ABC Carpet and Home" in a domain name. Court holds that issues of fact preclude it from determining whether defendant acted in bad faith in selecting this domain name, given that he had been doing business under the name "American Basic Craft Carpet and Home Restoration" since 1980, and claimed to have adopted the domain name at issue, "ABcarpetandhome.net", because it was an abbreviation of his business name. This issue of fact precluded the court from granting summary judgment on plaintiffs' ACPA claim, which requires, among other things, a finding that defendant used the mark at issue in bad faith. This issue of fact also led the Court to deny summary judgment on plaintiffs' infringement claim. The court denied plaintiffs' motion with respect to their dilution claim on the ground that issues of fact existed as to whether plaintiffs' mark was famous.

Plaintiffs have used the marks "ABC" and "ABC Carpet" in connection with their operation of retail stores offering carpets, rugs and other merchandise since 1961. Plaintiffs have used the mark "ABC Carpet and Home" since 1992, and registered the marks "ABC" and "ABC Carpet and Home" in 1998.

Defendant Mehdi Naeini has operated a business under the name "American Basic Craft Carpet and Home Restoration" since 1980. This business offers carpets and carpet cleaning services to the public. In 1998, Naeini registered the domain name "ABCcarpetandhome.net" for use in connection with this business. At the time he registered this domain name, he was aware of plaintiffs' prior use of the marks in question.

Plaintiffs commenced this suit, charging that defendant's conduct infringed plaintiffs' trademarks in violations of the Lanham Act and diluted their marks in violation of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act. Plaintiffs also claimed that defendant had registered the domain name at issue in bad faith in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ("ACPA").

The Court denied plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, holding that issues of fact precluded it from resolving the parties' disputes at this time. To prevail on a trademark infringement claim, a plaintiff must show that its mark is protectable, and that defendant's use of this mark is likely to cause consumer confusion. In analyzing whether use of a mark will cause such confusion, courts in the Second Circuit examine the following eight factors:

(1) the strength of plaintiff's marks;
(2) the similarity of the parties' marks;
(3) the proximity of the parties' products or services in the marketplace;
(4) the likelihood that the plaintiff will bridge the gap between the products or services;
(5) actual confusion;
(6) the defendant's intent in adopting the mark;
(7) the quality of the defendant's product; and
(8) the sophistication of the relevant consumer group.

The court found that each of the first four factors enumerated above favored the plaintiffs. Thus, the court found that ABC's mark was arbitrary, and hence strong, that defendant had used a mark identical to plaintiffs', and that plaintiffs and defendant were competitors offering carpet-related sales and services. Nonetheless, the court denied plaintiffs' motion, finding that issues of fact precluded it from determining whether defendant had acted in good faith when selecting the domain name at issue. At this stage in the proceedings, the court was unwilling to find that defendant had acted in bad faith, given his claim that he had adopted the domain name at issue, "abccarpetandhome.net", as an abbreviation of the name under which he had been doing business since 1980 "American Basic Craft Carpet and Home Restoration." The court's decision is silent as to whether defendant had ever previously used this abbreviation in his business. It is also silent as to why defendant elected to use a "net" top level domain in lieu of a "com" top level domain.

For similar reasons, the court denied plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on its ACPA claim. To establish an ACPA claim, the plaintiff must establish that defendant acted in bad faith, a finding the court was not prepared to make at this stage of the proceedings.

Lastly, the court denied plaintiffs summary judgment on their Federal Trademark Dilution Claim. To establish such a claim, the trademark holder must establish that its mark is famous, a burden the court held that plaintiffs failed to meet on the evidence before it. Said the court:

The Second Circuit has held that under the FTDA marks qualify as "famous" only if they carry "a substantial degree of fame," approaching the level of fame enjoyed by "household" names such as "Dupont, Buick, or Kodak . . . ." TCPIP, 244 F.3d at 99. Here the Court concludes that ABC's submissions fail to establish that there is no material fact as to whether its marks are "famous" under the FTDA. ABC has not established the type of national, "household" name recognition required by the FTDA, and its sales and advertising expenditures are lower than those of other companies whose marks were found insufficiently famous.

Importantly, the court reached this conclusion despite the plaintiffs' claims that they had spent $15 million advertising their marks between 1993 and 1998, during which period they sold over $550 million dollars worth of goods and services.

Disclaimer
© Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Martin H. Samson All Rights Reserved

Embassy of Armenia Salutes James Mark Keshishian

2006-05-27T15:03:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE
January 13, 2004

Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington , DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: armpr@speakeasy.net ; Web: www.armeniaemb.org
Embassy Hosts Christmas Open House, Concert by Zulal Trio

On January 9, 2004, the Embassy of Armenia hosted the traditional Christmas Open House reception for the Armenian American community of Greater Washington area that featured a concert by the Zulal trio. Before the concert, Armenian Ambassador to the U.S. , Dr. Arman Kirakossian spoke briefly on Armenia 's achievements and challenges in 2003, emphasizing the need for continued economic, political, humanitarian, and commercial cooperation between the Diaspora and Homeland to sustain the high economic growth and help address the social needs of the vulnerable people in Armenia . Ambassador Kirakossian also presented his vision for the U.S.-Armenian bilateral relations and cooperation in 2004.

The Armenian Ambassador then presented a moving tribute to the recently deceased Armenian-American enterprenuer, benefactor, community activist, and author James Mark Keshishian who has helped the Armenian Embassy, promoted better understanding of Armenian culture in his capacity as President of the Armenian Rugs Society, and supported political candidates defending issues of interest to Armenia and the Armenian people.

The reception featured a recital by the New York-based Zulal trio, which presented a beautiful a capella rendition of traditional Armenian folk songs. Zulal singers Anais Tekerian, Yeraz Markarian, and Teni Apelian who formed the trio in 2003 have already performed successfully before Armenian and non-Armenian audiences in the United States .

The reception was attended by members of the Armenian-American community, including members of the late James M. Keshishian's family, distinguished visitors from Armenia , and State Department and USAID officials, including Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Vahram Nercissiantz , U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway, and USAID Mission Chief in Armenia Keith Simmons.

TimesDispatch.com | DECISION MAKERS - Howard New

2006-05-01T06:51:00.000-04:00

TimesDispatch.com | DECISION MAKERS: "DECISION MAKERS

Richmond Times-Dispatch Apr 24, 2006

Murray Howard
Howard New position: director of historic architecture, Commonwealth Architects Previous position: curator and architect, Academical Village, the University of Virginia Birthplace: Talladega, Ala. Education: bachelor's degree in architecture, Auburn University; master's degree in architecture and doctorate in history of art and architecture, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Career: principal, Disegno, Charlottesville; adjunct professor of architecture, U.Va. Best career move: "Leaping into the unknown on several occasions, finding the surest path to growth in ways I had not imagined." Career goals: "Finding creative outlets in my work until the last day of life." The best advice he ever received: "Treat others as you would like to be treated." His parents Career tip for students: "Fill your life with variety in order to understand how the rest of the world thinks. Work or study abroad whenever the chance arises." What motivates him? "Treating life as a banquet for everyone to enjoy." Role model: "The individual who believes that bringing out the best in another person may be one's highest calling." Pastimes: Study of Oriental rugs and reading, usually biographical and historical works. The most memorable book: "The Razor's Edge" by W. Somerset Maugham Favorite food: French lemon tart at Fleurie in Charlottesville Ideal vacation: Spending April or October anywhere in Italy"

Iran Daily - Ilam Handmade Kelims Unique - 04/08/06

2006-04-28T11:24:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Panorama - 04/08/06: "Ilam Handmade Kelims Unique

Fine hand-woven Kelims have always been precious souvenirs which tourists can take home from the western Ilam province, IRNA reported.
Ilami artisans have always been famous for skillfully weaving austere Kelims.
In 1987, a Kelim artist from Zanjireh village in Shirvan-Chardavol city, named Sahar Chelangar, designed a new weaving style. She crafted Kelims inspired by designs of Persian rugs.
As evidenced by studies, the Kelim designs are much similar to rugs woven in ancient China.
A handicraft expert in Ilam, Hamid Bakhtiari, believes that the newly-designed Kelims are like a valuable gem among other provincial handiworks.
He is of the opinion that the handicraft has the potential to secure a foothold in overseas markets, provided there is official support.
Bakhtiari said Ilam’s colorful and finely-designed Kelims serve as nice souvenirs.
The expert insisted that Kelims woven by Ilami artists are of high quality and are as valuable as handmade Persian rugs from an aesthetic perspective.
He stated that foreign merchants are keen on purchasing Ilami Kelims.
Bakhtiari reiterated that Kelim-weaving could become a lucrative source of revenue for the western province, provided there is adequate sponsorship."

Iran Daily - 2006 World Cup Carpet Woven - 04/13/06

2006-04-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Front Page - 04/13/06: "2006 World Cup Carpet Woven

The carpet themed 2006 Football World Cup, measuring 2 meters by 2.5 meters, has over two million Turkish knots and 120 colors. (IRNA Photo)

TABRIZ, East Azarbaijan, April 12--An embossed carpet on the theme of 2006 Football World Cup was woven by a talented Tabrizi carpet weaver, Hossein Kazemi Hamed, IRNA reported on Wednesday.
Kazemi, who has previously woven special carpets for the 1998 World Cup (held in France) and 2002 World Cup (jointly held by Japan and South Korea), said that his main incentive in weaving the new carpet was his personal desire to continue the previous trend.
The carpet, measuring 2 meters by 2.5 meters, has over two million Turkish knots and 120 colors.
Kazemi, who also designed the carpet, noted that the preliminary work and design took over six months.
He said that the flags of 32 countries competing in the 2006 Football World Cup are on the right and left sides of the carpet.
“Images of the World Cup, FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter, the person in charge of the international event, Franz Beckenbauer, Berlin Stadium (the venue for the inaugural game) and also Brandano Gate are embossed on the carpet,“ he said.
The weaver further said the flags of Germany and Iran as well as the symbols of the 2006 Football World Cup and FIFA have been woven on the upper right and left corners of the carpet.
Kazemi concluded by saying that the carpet will be taken to Germany before the start of the international sports event"

Iran Daily - Rasht Bazaar - 04/26/06

2006-04-28T10:17:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Panorama - 04/26/06: "Sightseeing

Rasht Bazaar
Rasht is known for its unique cuisine, particularly its seafood and traditional rustic lifestyle. This can be best observed during the day in its open air bazaar, with its many small food stores and vendors from surrounding villages offering fresh produce, eggs, live chickens and ducks, olives, fish... and shoppers busy bargaining in the packed alleys of the baazar and adjacent streets.
The uncovered bazaar is bounded by Imam Khomeini and Shariati streets. Little of any great antiquity remains, since most of the bazaar was burned by the Bolsheviks in 1920. If you are looking for caviar, persistent but discreet inquiries at the bazaar may be rewarded. Iranians believe that this is the best place to buy it. Prices here should be a little lower than in Tehran."

Iran Daily - Persian Rugs Will Adorn Oman Palaces 04/11/06

2006-04-28T10:04:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Domestic Economy - 04/11/06: "Persian Rugs Will Adorn Oman Palaces

Iran exported $370 million worth of fine rugs and carpets during March 2005-January 2006.

TEHRAN, April 10--Palaces in the Persian Gulf Sultanate of Oman will be adorned with fine Persian rugs, said a carpet industry official here on Monday.
Seyyed Jalaleddin Bassam, who heads the Carpet Joint Stock Company, told Fars news agency that the company has received orders for weaving nine rugs for Omani palaces.
He said the contract is worth $440,000 for the 250 square meters of fine hand woven carpets.
The contract has been signed officially with the government in Muscat.
“Some 45 weavers will work on the project and the carpets will be woven in the northwestern city of Tabriz,“ where the finest Persian rugs are produced.
He said the company has launched an international marketing campaign for promoting its works, stressing that Oman is one of the traditional customers of Iranian rugs.
Iran exported $370.5 million worth of fine rugs and carpets during March 2005-January 2006.
Some 67 percent of the consignments went to Germany, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Italy and Japan.
Germany imported $89.6 million worth of carpets from Iran in the period, exports to the US reached $67.2 million while the figures for UAE, Italy and Japan stood at $34.3 million, $33.1 million and $24 million, respectively.
Iran exported a total of $248 million worth of rugs to the five countries. The figure was 10 percent higher compared to the same period in the previous year."

Iran Daily - 46th Hotel Opens in Kish - 04/05/06

2006-04-28T10:01:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Panorama - 04/05/06: "46th Hotel Opens in Kish

The 46th hotel of Kish Island, Parmis, went on stream at a total cost of 180 billion rials.
Managing director of Tourism Promotion Institute, Ali Ghamkhar, said at the inauguration ceremony of the 9-story hotel that hotel industry is one of the basic pillars of tourism programs in Kish Free Zone, ILNA reported.
He reiterated that apart from accommodation facilities, tourism infrastructure including sightseeing and recreational attractions, transportation and services sectors should expand in the Persian Gulf’s most popular island.
Ghamkhar said tourism promotion cannot be achieved unless by employing a scientific, broad-based and logical strategy.
“Hotel industry in Kish has experienced a remarkable growth in terms of quantity. However, the quality of services has not grown in tandem which means more efforts need to be made to provide premium quality services,“ he noted, adding private resources should be exploited to turn the island to a major tourism hub.
According to Masoud Arbab, one of the hotel’s managers, the facility has a built-up area of 16,000 sq.m.
Constructed through private entrepreneurship, Parmis Hotel has 170 rooms, close to 500 beds, seven restaurants and coffee shops, Internet cafŽ, gyms, sauna and swimming pool, handicrafts store, beauty parlor and laundry.
Kish Island, stretched across 93 square kilometers, receives more than one million Iranian and foreign tourists a year."

Iran Daily - Gilan 3rd Art, Culture Festival Planned - 04/17/06

2006-04-28T09:42:00.000-04:00

Iran Daily - Panorama - 04/17/06: "3rd Art, Culture Festival Planned

Traditional handicrafts, dishes, costumes and rural life utensils of Gilan will be showcased during the event.

Gilan’s Third Artistic and Cultural Festival dubbed Reyhaneh will be held in the Caspian province during May 13-19.
Head of Public Relations Office of Gilan Culture and Islamic Guidance Department said the event aims to provide an insight into the capabilities of local women in religious, artistic and cultural arenas, ISNA reported.
Mohammad Jaddehkenari added the art section of the festival includes paintings, calligraphy, films, photos, music and theater.
According to the official, books translated or authored by Gilani women as well as female-oriented publications will be put on display at the cultural section.
Provincial cities of Rasht, Astan-e Ashrafieh, Lahijan, Roudsar, Langeroud, Amlash, Anzali, Fouman, Shaft, Siahkal, Roudbar, Some’ehsara, Astara, Talesh and Rezvanshahr have pavilions in the fair, he expanded.
Jaddehkenari stated that traditional handicrafts, dishes, costumes and rural life utensils of Gilan will also be showcased.
He called on Gilani women, especially university students, to submit their research projects and papers on women’s hijab (Islamic dress code), women and social security, women in Islamic culture, women’s role in Islamic and Western countries, women and education, women and politics, women and social rights and finally creation of women in Qur’an to the festival’s secretariat."

CHN | Kashan Preparing for “Rose and Rosewater Festival

2006-04-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

CHN | News: "Kashan Preparing for “Rose and Rosewater Festival”
Kashan city will be the host of thousands of tourists during its annual “Rose and Rosewater Festival”.
Tehran, 27 April 2006 (CHN) -- Every year, the city of Kashan and its neighborhood districts are the host of hundreds of thousands of tourists during the festival of Gol-o-Golab (Rose and Rosewater), in which rosewater is extracted from the sweet-scented Mohammadi Rose, indigenous to Iran, during special and traditional ceremonies.

Kashan has abundant numbers of Mohammadi Rose from which high quality rosewater is extracted. The smell of this flower is amazing. Every year Kashan sends large amount of this rosewater to the holly city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia as a gift to wash the Kaba* with it.

This year the festival will be held from 16-24 of May and since this year has been called “Holly Prophet Mohammad Year” in Iran, some special programs will be held during this festival, including the seminar entitled “from rosewater to essence”, the ceremony of extracting rosewater from the flowers, the ceremony of dusting off pilgrimage places and washing them by rosewater, and the seminar of improving and developing flower breeding.

Kashan, Qamsar, Mashhad Ardehal, Niasar, and Joshaghan cities will be the hosts of tourists who are interested in observing this ceremony closely during these days. Abyaneh, a famous village near Kashan, which is famous for its traditional culture and special architectural style, is also one of the places which will host a lot of tourists during this time.

According to Abbas Motevali, head of public relations office of Kashan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, the seminar of “From Rosewater to Essence” will be held during the first day of the festival in Kashan University. Ceremony of extracting rosewater from rose flower which is the main part of this festival will be held in Mohammadi flower Garden in Qamsar on the second day, the same thing will be held in Ghale Tepe entertainment site during the fourth day, in the garden of Niasar City Hall in the fifth day and in Joshaghan in the sixth day of the festival.

In addition, the ceremony of dusting off the pilgrimage places and washing the shrine of Ali ibn Mohammad Bagher Mausoleum will be held during the third day of the festival.

The seminar on improving the agriculture and developing flower breeding will be held in Kashan in the last day of the festival.

Motevali has estimated the number of the inbound tourists during this festival to Kahsan province to be some 1,370,000 individuals.

Kashan is a city in the province of Isfahan. The history of Kashan dates back to the Elamite period. The etymology of the city name comes from the Persian word Kashi, which translates into the English word “tile”. Kashan is internationally famous for manufacturing carpets, silk and other textiles.

_____________
* Kaba is a cubed-shape building constructed by Prophet Abraham in present day city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This has been the case since the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) over 1400 years ago. Each year and during the Hajj ceremony, Muslims from around the world gather in the holly city of Mecca and perform the ceremony by walk around the building seven times and praising God for his blessings.
For more information about the Kaba and its history click here: www.soundvision.com/info/hajj/kaba.asp"

Press Release - Art-World Powerbroker,

2006-04-28T07:51:00.001-04:00

/24-7PressRelease/ - April 24, 2006 -

Kerman to establish Iran's largest carpet museum

2006-04-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

Kerman to establish Iran's largest carpet museum: "Tehran: 19:30 , 2006/04/24

Kerman to establish Iran’s largest carpet museum
TEHRAN, Apr. 24 (MNA) -- Iran’s largest carpet museum is to be established in the George Thimou Garden in Kerman, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.

The director of the Kerman Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department said that the museum dedicated to Kerman carpets will be established in the 100-year-old garden in a space of four hectares.

According to Ali Karnama, the garden was converted into a carpet weaving and importing workshop almost one hundred years ago by British businessman George Thimou.

The garden is currently supervised by the Ministry of Commerce and the Kerman Carpet Corporation. It houses several old buildings, and the old equipment for producing carpets has been left untouched.

He explained that the museum will be established through the cooperation of the Kerman Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department and the Ministry of Commerce, adding, “The ministry, the department, and the Kerman Carpet Corporation will allocate a sum of 200 billion rials to purchase the old carpets of Kerman from different regions for display at the museum.”

Karnama said the details will be discussed in May during President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Kerman, and the project will begin after the necessary funding is allocated.

Kerman carpets mostly feature floral designs. Many have rich central medallions, the motifs of which are also used on the borders and in the corners. On the larger Kerman carpets there are animal designs or repeating patterns. The smaller ones are often decorated with vase patterns or pictorial subjects."

The Hindu : International : Bringing back the magic of Iranian carpet-weaving

2006-04-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

The Hindu : International : Bringing back the magic of Iranian carpet-weaving: "Bringing back the magic of Iranian carpet-weaving

World's biggest carpet to come from three villages

6,000 sq m, 48 tonnes
To have 2.2 billion knots
Weavers are all women

BAGHSHAN: More than 1,200 village women have set to work weaving a giant carpet worth $8.5 million (about Rs. 38.25 crores).

Iranian experts claim that it will be the world's largest hand-woven floor covering ever. It was commissioned for the Sheik Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Iran has a long and legendary tradition of carpet-making.

Jalalledin Bassam, director of the Iranian Government-owned Iran Carpet Co., said weaving the carpet — 6,000 sq m and weighing about 48 tonnes — will take at most 14 months for villagers who will work two shifts daily.

A symbol

"The carpet will be a symbol of Iranian handicraft art," he said. "It is decorated with traditional Persian designs and natural colours and is made of 2.2 billion knots."

The weaving began last month here, a village northeast of Tehran, and two nearby villages. The weavers are all women between ages of 15 and 60. They are supervised by 50 men acting as technical experts. These men will later travel to Abu Dhabi to join the pieces together at the mosque once the carpet is completed.

The project has revived the carpet economy in northeastern Iran at a time when carpet prices have plummeted.

"This project has given us a new life. We are happy," said Sakineh Tajik, 36, one of the weavers. "We are proud of our art," she said. Her husband is one of the experts supervising the work.

Until this carpet was commissioned, the world's largest was in the Qabus Azam Mosque in Muscat, Oman. It also was the work of Iranian carpet weavers and shipped to Oman in 2000. That carpet had a surface of 5,000 sq m, weighed 22 tonnes and was valued at $5.2 million.

Big export item

Carpets are one of Iran's biggest non-oil export items, accounting for $500 million annually. In the 1990s, Iran was the world's biggest carpet exporter but the industry has been hit by cheaper Pakistani, Chinese and Indian copies of traditional Iranian patterns.

Iran's carpet trade with the West began seriously in the 16th century when European kings and courtiers began importing the tribal works from Persia, modern-day Iran. — AP"

Educators Say Azerbaijan's Culture Is More Important than Its Oil

2006-04-19T09:54:00.000-04:00

Educators Say Azerbaijan's Culture Is More Important than Its Oil: "Educators Say Azerbaijan's Culture Is More Important than Its Oil
Six Muslim women visit U.S. on State Department-sponsored program

Azerbaijani educators told a U.S. audience recently that their small country on the Caspian Sea can contribute much more than oil to the rest of the world.

Azerbaijan blends Islamic tradition and religious tolerance at a geographic and cultural crossroad linking Europe, Asia and the Middle East. While seeking more contacts with other nations, Azerbaijanis also want to preserve their country's unique balance of tradition and tolerance, the educators said.

"We are all for integration. Not Westernization, but integration," said Sevinj Ruintan, a history professor at Baku State University. "We do not think that we are the only ones who can learn" from cultural exchanges with other countries, she said. "We think that others can learn from us as well."

Ruintan was among six Azerbaijani women scholars and teachers, all Muslims, who visited the United States March 27-April 14 in a State Department-sponsored International Visitor Leadership program, where they looked at religion and education in this country.

During a March 29 roundtable discussion on Islam in Azerbaijan and Europe, four of the six visitors wore traditional head scarves and two wore Western-style business clothes. They said the majority of Azerbaijani women lead a secular lifestyle and do not wear head scarves in public.

ISLAM IN AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijanis rediscovered their Islamic heritage after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet the resurgence of religion has not undermined the country's acceptance of other faiths nor its fair-minded treatment of women, members of the group said, speaking through an interpreter. For example, they said, Azerbaijanis have valued the education of women and girls for well over a century, and many teachers and scholars are women.

"Azerbaijan has always been a very multiethnic nation," said Naila Suleymanova, a rare manuscripts researcher at the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. Until the Soviet Union takeover in 1920, Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in Baku. "We have never had any conflicts with non-Muslims," Suleymanova said. "Everybody in a way back in Soviet times fought for his or her faith. Communists were closing mosques and churches and the synagogues." Beginning in 1990, "representatives of all the ethnic groups began to return to religion."

Azerbaijan is bordered by Armenia, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the Republic of Georgia. The country has an ethnic Turkic heritage that also blends elements of ancient Persian culture. Despite shortcomings during a presidential election in November 2005, U.S. officials support democratic efforts in the former Soviet republic. (See related article.)

"Azerbaijan has a chance to emerge as a secular democracy that has a predominantly Shiia population," Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 5.

Thomas Goltz, a professor at the University of Montana who was a journalist in Azerbaijan during the early 1990s, said the country's rediscovery of Shiite Islam once created the potential for an Islamist revolution. "The most interesting thing to me is that it didn't happen," Goltz said during a lecture in January at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

During the lecture, Goltz showed a film he made in 1994 documenting the rise of Shiite Islam as Azerbaijanis cast aside 70 years of Soviet dominance. "We preserved our religion like a precious flower," one Azerbaijani said in the film, which showed fervent gatherings of worshippers. Goltz, who was an observer during the November 2005 elections, said the country has political flaws but appears to have struck a balance between modernity and its cultural identity.

Although the government of neighboring Iran is dominated by theocrats, even religious-minded Azerbaijanis say they are not interested in Iran's approach to Islam. "We are not on the level of Islam seen in Iran," Sevda Hasanova, editor of Hesabat, a social-political magazine, said during the State Department roundtable. "Our people would never want to live the kind of Islam as practiced in Iran."

"The overall mentality of the Azeri people is clearly intertwined with Islam," said Ulduza Fataliyeva, an observant Muslim who teaches ethics for the nonprofit Center for Religious Studies in Sumgayit, north of Baku.

"That applies to all people, whether they adhere to the rules of Islamic law or not," said Fataliyeva. "As an ethnic Azeri, everyone knows the rules of Islamic conduct. Whether we worship according to the Islamic ritual or not, that doesn't change our Islamic identity."

Zakiyya Abilova, a rare manuscripts researcher for the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences, said she chooses to wear a head scarf as an outward sign of her faith. "We can't say people do not have any religion if they do not pray," Abilova said. "We all have God in our heart."

Abilova learned Arabic as part of her university studies, and she said her doctoral dissertation was related to sharia, Islamic law. "Islam is a true light that enriches the human spirit, and I am really proud to be an Islamic scholar," said Abilova.

The decision whether to wear a head scarf does not influence the way women are treated in public, the educators said. "In our country, whether or not you're covered or uncovered, the attitude men have toward women is good," said Suleymanova, who is also a manuscripts researcher at the Academy of Sciences.

NATION OFFERS "RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE"

In discussing what Azerbaijan has to offer the world, the women were concerned that outsiders tend to view their country only in light of its petroleum reserves. Azerbaijan became an important oil-producing region more than 100 years ago and was a major oil and gas supplier to the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, Azerbaijan signed multibillion-dollar agreements with Western companies. The 1,610-kilometer $4 billion Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline - built with U.S. backing - is scheduled to begin regularly pumping oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey's Mediterranean coast later this year.

"Unfortunately, the integration of Azerbaijan has started with the oil agreements and it has ended with them," said Hasanova, the magazine editor. She said she hopes the government of Azerbaijan will put its oil wealth to work for the people. And she noted that some experts predict the oil boom will last no more than 45 years before petroleum reserves begin to run dry.

Azerbaijan lies on the traditional Silk Road and is a crossroad between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences includes unique volumes of Muslim medical texts, including 363 manuscripts that have been entered in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" register, which preserves world heritage documents. (See related news release on the Web site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.)

"Much of the world could benefit from these global treasures," said Abilova, one of the Academy researchers.

Also, many well-known carpet styles from modern-day Iran use Azerbaijani patterns, Ruintan said. In 1828, Azerbaijan was divided between the Russian and Persian empires. The portion north of the Aras River, which was ceded to Russia, eventually became today's Republic of Azerbaijan. A larger portion south of the Aras, to include the city of Tabriz, remains an ethnic Azerbaijani region of Iran. Hence, ethnic Azerbaijanis weave many Iranian carpets.

"So what we could give to the world," said Ruintan, "is our rich cultural heritage. We could try to present our culture on a global basis."

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@gmail.com"

Educators Say Azerbaijan's Culture Is More Important than Its Oil

2006-04-19T09:53:00.000-04:00

Earthquakes Devastate Iranian Villages US Offers Aid - Yahoo! News

2006-03-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

Earthquakes Devastate Iranian Villages - Yahoo! News: "Earthquakes Devastate Iranian Villages By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - Three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks reduced villages to rubble in western Iran early Friday, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 1,200 others, officials said. At least 13 tremors jolted the mountainous region throughout the night, Tehran University's Geophysics Institute said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7-magnitude quake shortly before 5 a.m., followed by a 4.7-magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later.

The quakes were centered near Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial centers about 210 miles southwest of Tehran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The regional head of emergency response, Ali Barani, said about 200 villages were damaged, some flattened. Barani said hospitals in Doroud and Boroujerd were filled to capacity.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting northern England, expressed her "deep sympathy" to the Iranians and offered assistance. The U.S. military provided aid after a devastating quake in southern Iran in 2003.

Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations and currently are at a stalemate over U.S. accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies those charges.

After the first quake struck, police in the city of Boroujerd and the town of Doroud toured the streets with loudspeakers, urging people to leave their homes before more temblors hit.

The measure is believed to have contributed to a lower death toll than usual in Iran for quakes of this magnitude.

Many people ran into the streets in panic and refused to return to their homes.

"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.

Television showed survivors standing next to their destroyed houses in villages north of Doroud. The ground was strewn with the carcasses of sheep and goats killed by the quake.

Such quakes have killed thousands of Iranians in the past, especially in the countryside, where construction is often flimsy and many houses are built of mud bricks. But initial reports suggested the devastation was not so widespread this time.

Officials called doctors and nurses on leave back to work. Iranians are celebrating Nowruz, or new year, and most government offices are closed and their staff on holiday.

Barani told IRNA rescue teams had been sent to the region. He said survivors urgently needed blankets, tents and food.

State-run television said 66 bodies had been recovered from houses destroyed in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud.

The broadcast said 1,200 people were injured. Most people had been sleeping.

In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake in southern Iran killed 612 people and injured more than 1,400.

A magnitude 6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. On average, it experiences at least one slight earthquake every day.

The area had been hit by a 4.7-magnitude quake the day before, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes around the world."

Karaim Turks of Lithuania - Turkish Daily News Mar 16, 2006

2006-03-30T07:01:00.000-05:00

Karaim Turks of Lithuania - Turkish Daily News Mar 16, 2006: "Karaim Turks of Lithuania
Thursday, March 16, 2006
print this page mail to a friend

DOMESTIC
All News »

» Student fatally wounded in school brawl
» Şemdinli commission questioning victims
» Solar eclipse helps bird flu-struck Turkey lure back tourists
» Eclipse sweeps shadowy path across half the world
» Fears of post-eclipse quake send hundreds outdoors
» Mumcu threatens to leave the country
» Rioters face off with police as army moves in
» DOMESTIC NEWSLINE

Ingmar Karlsson*
In Trakai, Lithuania, opposite the island in Lake Galve, where the city's medieval castle stands, is a street with very special houses. They are all wooden and painted green and yellow, and each of them has three windows facing the street.

Here, for more than 600 years, one of Europe's most remarkable and distinctive minorities, the Karaim, has been living on “Karaimu Gatve,” or Karaimu Street.

Their history in Lithuania began when, after the war against the Mongolian Golden Horde in Crimea in 1397, the Polish-Lithuanian King Vytautas Magnus brought 380 Karaim families with him to his capital city of Trakai.

They were given the task of guarding the royal castle as the only access to it was across a bridge from the part of the city the Karaim were allotted. Initially they worked as castle guards. In 1441, they were granted the same rights as the citizens of Magdeburg -- known as the Right of Magdeburg by the Polish--Lithuanian King Kasimir IV. This could be viewed as a model of self-government at the time, and the purpose was to ensure that they would become permanent residents. The Karaims increasingly engaged in agriculture and horticulture, horse breeding and different handicrafts and gradually came to constitute a middle class between the aristocracy and the framers who tilled the soil.

The head of the Karaim was the elected “vaitas,” and he was their official representative in contacts with the Polish-Lithuanian kings. Their houses had three windows facing the street because this demonstrated wealth, while to have four windows was considered to be showy and conspicuous.

On Karaimu Gatve one also finds the only “kenesa” in Europe, the shrine where the Karaim practice the distinctive religion that has given them their identity.

The religion of the Karaim was founded in the eighth century in Baghdad by a man named Anan Ben David. He based his teachings on the written Torah and rejected the oral tradition reflected in Talmud literature.

Thus, according to him, God's pure and true words were only to be found in the Old Testament. He considered this interpretation to be a continuation of the old Jewish tradition and himself to be a successor to the Essenes of Qumran.

Everyone should closely study the Old Testament on his own and interpret the text according to his own ideas. “Thoroughly research the Torah and do not rely on my view” is a motto attributed to Anan Ben David. No believer was to follow rules the meaning of which he did not understand even after having read them carefully. Thus, the Old Testament should be interpreted individually and independently, without reference to authorities and with the Ten Commandments as the moral norms. According to some, this central message explains the name of the sect, and the word "karaim" is believed to derive from the Hebrew word “karaa,” to read, which may thus refer to the fact that they only accept the written word.

Both Christ and Mohammed are regarded as Karaim prophets, and the religion is also influenced by Muslim schools such as the Mutazilit school of philosophy and the Hanafi school of law.

The emphasis on the written word “sola scriptura,” which Marin Luther was to assert 800 years later in relation to Rome, caused German Protestants to regard the Karaim as forerunners of the Reformation.

When the Karaim center was moved from Baghdad to Jerusalem, the religion began spreading through missionary activities to the Turkic-speaking peoples on the Crimean peninsula and the steppes of the lower Volga region. The Khazars, the Kipchak-Kumans and the Polovts were converted to the new religion in the ninth century, the ulterior political motive perhaps being that they would then constitute a buffer zone between the Russian Orthodox Church advancing from the north and the Muslim expansion from the south and therefore be left in peace.

There is another point of similarity between the Karaim and Protestantism that has contributed to preserving their identity, namely, they worship in their own language, Karaim.

This language belongs to the Kipchak group of the Turkic-Altaic family and is closely related to the language of the Crimean Tatars.

Since Karaim was an isolated linguistic island surrounded by the Slavic languages of Russian, Polish and Lithuanian, it contains many old Turkic words that do not exist in the Turkic languages spoken today. Hence, Karaim is of special interest for comparative Turkic linguistics -- a Polish linguistic researcher has compared it to a fly encapsulated in a piece of amber.

Karaim since the 17th century:

After a visit to Lithuania in 1691, Professor Gustav Peringer from Uppsala University was the first to establish that Karaim belonged to the Turkic language group. One of the foremost experts on the Karaim language today is Eva Csato Johansson of Uppsala University.

The Karaim enjoyed their autonomy according to the Right of Magdeburg until the Third Division of Poland in the late 18th century, when they ended up in the Russian Empire. Half of the inhabitants of Trakai were Karaim. Their legal status changed. At first, they were lumped together with the Muslim Crimean Tatars. In 1863 however, they received the status of a religious minority of their own with a special high priest, or “hakhan,” for the western provinces of the Russian Empire.

During World War I the Karaim were evacuated to Russian towns, mainly to the Crimea. They were able to return in 1920 but found themselves divided between two nations, Lithuania and Poland, where Trakai was now situated. Families were split up and communications between the two communities became more difficult. However, the national feeling was strengthened by the growing nationalism in the resurrected Lithuanian and Polish nation states.

There were therefore extensive cultural activities going on during the inter-war period. A journal, “Karai Avazy” (Voice of the Karaim), was published as well as a historical and literary magazine, “Mysl Karaimska” (Karaim Thought), which contained texts in the Karaim language. Also a society of the friends of Karaim literature and history was founded.

When the German Wehrmacht ran into the Karaim in their thrust eastward, the latter denied any connection to Judaism. They had always repudiated any connection between Judaism and their religion, claiming instead that they were a distinctive religious community.

They were supported in this by Meir Balaban, a learned Jew from the Warsaw ghetto. He was forced by the Nazis to make an evaluation of the Karaim from a religious and racial point of view. Despite the fact that in his earlier publications he had always characterized the Karaim as a branch of Judaism, he now claimed the opposite to save them from the Holocaust.

The German National Socialist race researchers declared that the Karaim indeed belonged to a Jewish sect but at the same time established that they had no Jewish blood in their veins but were in fact Turkic Tatars. There was probably a political background to this ethnic determination. Hitler saw in the Crimean Tatars an ally against the Soviet Union, and since they regarded the Karaim as Tatars, their persecution or annihilation would have jeopardized their alliance plans.

After World War II the borders were again redrawn, and Trakai ended up in the Soviet Republic of Lithuania. The Karaim school was converted into an apartment building and the “kenesa” built in Vilnius during the period of Lithuanian independence became a warehouse.

The Karaim took an active part in the drive for Lithuania's independence. In May 1988 the Lithuanian Karaim Cultural Society was founded and an anthology of poetry and a prayer book were published in the Karaim language. In April 1992 the Karaim ethnic group was given special legal status as a religious minority having existed in Lithuania since the 14th century.

Spiritual life of the Karaim:

Trakai has now again become the center for the spiritual life of the Karaim. They come here to see the place to where King Vytautas Magnus, whose portrait is to be found in most Karaim homes, brought their ancestors, and to visit their “kenesa.” This is a square building with a copper roof. There are oriental rugs on the floor, and the men sit in the main nave while the women follow the divine service from a gallery separated from the nave by a wall from which only narrow slits provide a view of the altar.

Representatives of the small Karaim communities dispersed over Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Crimea had a meeting in 1989 in this “kenesa.” Contacts have also been established with the small Karaim (Karait) communities in Israel, Istanbul and the United States. There exists, though, a fundamental dividing-line among them. While the East European Karaim emphasize the independent nature of their communion, the others consider themselves to be Karaim Jews. They regard their religion as being based on Judaism in the same way as Christianity is a religion based on Judaism.

In addition to the religion various old customs and traditions of the Turkic peoples in the Caucasus and Central Asia have played a major role in preserving the Karaim identity. These include, e.g., the wedding traditions with the bride's melodious and mournful farewell song “Muzhul Kielin” (The Sad Bride) and choosing the “ataman” (matrimonial agent) for the wedding, as well as the moral advice the community's elders, the “aksakals,” give about future married life and the song sung when the couple enters the shrine.

600 years in Trakai:

The 600th anniversary of the arrival of the Karaim in Trakai was celebrated in 1997. A detailed census of the Karaim in Lithuania was carried out in this connection. At that time there were 257 Karaims in Lithuania, 132 men and 125 women. Thirty-two of them were under 16, 139 lived in Vilnius, 65 in Trakai and 31 in Panevezys. Furthermore, there were 133 Karaim in Poland, living in Warsaw, Gdansk and Wroclaw.

Eighty-two percent said that Karaim was their mother tongue but only 31 percent could speak the language and only 13 percent said they used it in both speech and writing. Over 60 percent spoke Lithuanian, Russian or Polish. Among young people under 16 only three spoke Karaim, a figure that must be seen in light of the fact that the number of Karaim in Lithuania was 423 in 1959 and 352 in 1979.

The future may, therefore, seem gloomy but bearing in mind the high level of education and strong awareness of their distinctive identity, the Karaim have better chances of surviving than some remnants of other peoples.

While 11 percent of the Lithuanian population had benefited from higher education, the figure for the Karaim was no less than 44 percent; 66 percent were in top posts in the administration, six had Ph.D.s and were employed in the newly independent Lithuania's Foreign Service. Two of the most important posts, the ambassadors in Moscow and Tallinn, were both held by Karaim.

The latter, Halina Kobeckaité, subsequently became the Lithuanian ambassador to Turkey, a post she left last year.

* Ingmar Karlsson is Sweden's consul general in Istanbul. The above lecture is part one of a lecture given by Karlsson at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul on Feb. 22, 2006. The second part, on Gagauz Turks, will appear in tomorrow's Turkish Daily News."

Good looks at Textile Museum�-�Entertainment�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

2006-03-21T15:36:00.000-05:00

Good looks at Textile Museum�-�Entertainment�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Good looks at Textile Museum
October 24, 2005

Perhaps only at a Textile Museum gala would patrons and guests applaud the flower arrangements as well as the evening's honoree.
Supporters of that institution's formally-titled Tribute Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Thursday are inclined by nature to be appreciative of good aesthetics in any form. So cheering dramatically-arranged orchid displays went right along with toasts of port (not champagne) to New York-based textile designer and collector Jack Lenor Larsen, recipient of the newly-created George Hewitt Myers Award given in honor of the museum's founder.
More surprising was the fact that the occasion was the museum's first-ever fundraising gala in its 80-year history. In many Washingtonians' minds, it is "the little museum that could" -- one of the capital's often overlooked treasures suffering from an out-of-the-way location and a cramped physical space. Mr. Larsen, an honorary trustee known worldwide for his signature fabrics, called it "the only real textile museum in the Americas."
"It's a heroically important organization," said trustee Bevis Longstreth, author of a novel called "The Spindle and Bow" ("about the oldest pile rug in the world"), who came from New York for the dinner. Joan Mondale, a potter and wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, flew in from Minneapolis where she has established that city's Textile Center. "Textiles and clay work together," she noted.
Famed furniture designer Sam Maloof, who flew in from Los Angeles, recalled when he traveled 30 years ago to Afghanistan with Mr. Larsen. (Their American hostess at the time, who was present Thursday, reacquainted herself with both men.) "I made a chair for his house," the artfully attired craftsman volunteered.
An Asian theme rightly dominated -- heralding the museum's latest exhibit on "Rozome Masters of Japan" and an accompanying weekend symposium on "Japanese Style and the Culture of Cloth."
"I'm the new guy in town," announced the museum's director, Daniel Walker, who arrived in May from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he headed the Islamic Art Department. That definitely was no surprise to the audience, many of whom spoke of him as the embodiment of new vigor and vision at the historic institution on S Street Northwest.
-- Ann Geracimos"

Peter Pap - Antiques Roadshow/Tips of the Trade: Tips on buying an antique rug

2006-03-21T14:59:00.000-05:00

Antiques Roadshow/Tips of the Trade: Tips on buying an antique rug: "

Appraiser Peter Pap inspects Susan's Hereke prayer rug at the Hot Springs ROADSHOW.

In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a woman named Susan discussed two oriental rugs that her grandparents had bought in 1931 for the exact same price: $2,000. One of the rugs, a very large Serapi, was woven in the late 19th century in northwest Persia, present-day Iran. In a little over 100 years this rug has appreciated twentyfold, to a retail value of $40,000. However, the other rug, a small Turkish Hereke prayer rug, has appreciated to only $6,000, which means its worth hasn't even kept pace with inflation.

What happened? Why does one old oriental rug soar in value over the years, while another one, just as old, stagnates in value?

We took these questions to Peter Pap, the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW rug expert who evaluated the two Hot Springs rugs. He says the differential in the appreciation of these two rugs, and of oriental rugs in general, is closely related to each rug's respective quality. He's quick to add, though, that the worth of a rug at any given time is also tied to cycles of the market and trends in people's taste.

The popularity of Turkish prayer rugs in the early 1900s spawned many copies, of which this is an example.

"What happens to the value of an oriental rug over time is in many ways no different than what happens to any antique or collectible," Peter says. "Supply and demand, and the effects of fashion, play major roles." Susan's two rugs serve as prime examples.

First, Authenticity
Older Hereke rugs — and other Turkish prayer rugs similar to the one Susan showed in Hot Springs — were in great demand during the first few decades of the 1900s, Peter says. This fact inflated their value at the time. The keen market in turn inspired ever more exaggerated sales pitches — a factor Peter says likely played a part in the grandparents' purchase.

The original paperwork from the interior designer who sold the Hereke rug lists it as a "semi-antique," a term used to refer to objects that are more than 50 years old, but not yet 100 years old — the minimum age for a bona fide "antique." But Peter says that this rug was not in fact a late 19th-century specimen; rather, it was a copy made no more than 20 years before Susan's grandparents purchased it.

"They were definitely misled, and they overpaid for the prayer rug," Peter says.

The rug's value is diminished by its poor-quality red dye, which has bled into the lighter colors over time.

Quality Matters
Quality of craftsmanship — or lack of it — has also played a role in the Hereke's lackluster appreciation in value. The red dye used in the pattern was of poor quality and has bled into the rug's lighter colors. Peter also notes that the rug is not actually made of silk, as was claimed, but instead is woven from treated cotton.

On the other hand there is the second rug, a Serapi, which Peter spotted in a photograph that Susan showed him of the St. Louis penthouse that her grandparents lived in. But how can Peter tell from the picture that this rug is a winner? Serapis, he explains, only started being made in the last quarter of the 19th century; in the 1930s, this type of rug hadn't been around long enough, nor become popular enough, for rug makers to begin producing copies for sale. That's why Peter doesn't have misgivings about its authenticity. And Susan reports that the Serapi is still in excellent condition. A wealthy collector, her grandfather even built a special museum-like room in St. Louis to house his rugs. So Peter feels comfortable that his $40,000 estimate is accurate provided the Serapi has continued to be well cared for.

"While large Persian carpets with primitive geometric designs were relatively inexpensive at the time this was bought, they are now one of the most desirable types," Pap says.

So the first — unsurprising — lesson illustrated by Susan's two rugs is that quality matters in oriental rugs. But what may be a more important lesson, even for collectors of fine hand-made oriental carpets, is that the market is fickle.

Susan's much more valuable Serapi rug can be seen in this old photo of her grandfather's St. Louis penthouse.

Fickle Market
Peter says that in the 1950s, oriental rugs lost their allure when buyers began to develop a preference for the color beige, as well as for wall-to-wall carpeting. Peter knows old-timers in the antiques business who had to dump the oriental rugs they bought as parts of complete estates. "One of my mentors in the business would drive from Washington in his Volkswagen Beetle to New England with $200 and be able to fill the car with antique rugs purchased at antiques shops," Peter says.

In the 1950s and 1960s for about $500 you could purchase a 9x12-foot Persian Bidjar carpet made in 1920. That same rug, if kept in good condition, is worth about $10,000 today.

Prices for Turkoman tribal rugs and saddlebags, however, which collectors eagerly sought in the 1970s, have moved in the other direction over the last 10 years. "Now collectors are only looking for the masterpieces to round out their collections," Peter says. "And there isn't a second wave of younger collectors to support the entry-level pieces, so the prices have dropped in value."

In addition to changing patterns of demand, changes in the supply of oriental rugs have also affected the prices of mid-century rugs. As part of the renaissance in oriental rugs over the last 20 years, rug makers have begun to use quality natural dyes again and have created vibrant designs that borrow from 19th-century patterns.

"These rugs now make many of the semi-antique rugs look stiff in design and have caused that market to come down in price," Peter explains. "Any rugs whose designs and colors evolved to meet current taste in the West after World War II are bound to experience drops in demand and therefore price."

So perhaps the ultimate lesson in all these up-and-down swings is to buy what you like and treasure what you have. "Investment should not be your number-one requirement with a rug," Peter says. "An oriental rug, if it's cared for, will last a hundred years or more. You don't want to discount the value of something that can be used for a lifetime."

Editor's note: This article was updated on November 10, 2003, to correct a reporting error, which stated that the making of Serapi rugs started in the first decade of the 1900s. In fact, as Peter Pap explained, Serapi rugs were made beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century."

Peter Pap at the NY Winter Antiques Show

2006-03-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

HALI.com: "Indian Winter

Deccani carpet, south-central India, 18th century. 1.19 x 1.42m (3'11" x 6'6"). Peter Pap at the NY Winter Antiques Show.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The prestigious New York Winter Antiques show, which opens on Thursday 19th January 2006 at the Park Avenue Armory (until Sunday 29th), is an annual showcase for leading US antique oriental carpet dealer Peter Pap (Dublin NH & San Francisco), at which he regularly represents rugs of beauty and historical significance.

Included in this year's show is an 18th century Deccani carpet, acquired in Japan, of the same general type of Indian export weaving as can be seen adorning some of the floats during Kyoto's annual Gion Matsuri festival. However, this rug can be sourced to a private Japanese collection rather than guild holdings, and is a previously unrecorded example of the type.

Non-Mughal Indian carpets from the Deccan are still quite difficult to identify or to distinguish from better known north Indian carpets, primarily because the process of describing them, 'defining their terms', both aesthetically and technically, is not yet complete. Imperial British Gazetteers from the turn of the 19th century mention an oral tradition which tells of carpet production in the south-central plateau of the Indian subcontinent, the Deccan, which was supposedly active in the 16th century, but if any of those carpets have survived, we would probably not yet be able to recognise them with any certainty. Black and white photographic images of late 19th carpets from traditional south Indian carpet centers such as Warangal, Ellore, Masulipatanam and Ayyampet do appear in a few of the early surveys, but, again, no structural information accompanied those images nor are we certain of their colours.

Until recently, almost the only physical evidence of earlier Deccani carpet production was a series of fairly coarse multiple-niche prayer rugs in museums such as London's Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as two or three odd carpets which had been collected in India in the late 19th century and which were reported at the time to have been made in one of the traditional Deccani carpet weaving centres. The other major sources of early Deccani carpets, private collections in Japan, were almost entirely unknown.

A survey of carpets used in the annual Gion festival in Kyoto, undertaken in 1990 by Nobuko Kajitani and Daniel Walker, was published in both English and Japanese and as a result, our present understanding of a wider range of Deccani carpets produced in the late 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries specifically for the Japanese export market, has expanded greatly.

Structurally, some Deccani carpets which are documented to have been in Japanese collections since the 18th century more closely resemble Iranian models (so-called Esfahan carpets) with Z4S white cotton warps and less alternate warp displacement than found in most north Indian Mughal carpets. But at the same time, they exhibit those two typically Mughal design characteristics: a fondness for ton-sur-ton colouring and an almost promiscuous display of racemes. These are definitely Indian carpets, but not from the north. Other 18th century Deccani specimens in Japan exhibit structures identical to standard north Indian Mughal carpets with Z6-8S white cotton warps, but their designs are so odd that they too must be Deccani variants.

The Pap carpet, accompanied by ample evidence supporting its 18th century date, including a meticulously labelled wooden storage box, is one of those structurally ambiguous examples. Measuring 1.19 x 1.42m (3'11" x 6'6"), its multiple-stranded warps could belong to a north Indian carpet, while its brown wefts and moderate alternate warp depression are features more suggestive of Deccani weaving.

Both the border and central field designs can be found on 17th century north Indian carpets, but here their scale has been altered, displaying a relative lack of design sophistication more often encountered on Deccani carpets. A section of a balanced, symmetrical large-scale floral arabesque field design intended for a much larger carpet has been used to fill the central field of this smaller carpet. In order to accommodate the border to border repeat, the design has been turned at right angles to the weave. This is indicative of 18th century commercial production, as is the fairly coarse knotting.

The Kyoto carpet is charming, with bright colours and a naïve appeal, and it is obviously of historical importance. Two 18th century carpets illustrated in Kajitani and Yoshida's 1992 Japanese catalogue of carpets in Kyoto exhibit quite similar central field designs (nos.19 & 20), while the border of no.33 is very close to the border of the Pap carpet, although structurally, we are told that no.33 has blue, rather than brown, cotton wefts.

Also included in Pap's Armory display is another 17th/18th century carpet, arguably of Indian origin, and certainly with an 'Indian' design, but which has been the subject of much to-and-fro theorising over the years. First tentatively attributed to northwest Persia in 1988 in an article by Ian Bennett published in Weltkunst, it later appeared in Alberto Levi's 1993 article on 'Proto-Kurdish' weaving (HALI 70, p.88, fig.50). Later the same year it came up for auction in the Jon Thompson sale at Sotheby's in New York (lot 79), equally tentatively assigned to 17th century India, although at the time HALI preferred to persist with a probable northwest Persian attribution (HALI 73, p.134). Then, in the 1997 Metropolitan Museum catalogue Flowers Underfoot, Daniel Walker cited it as one of two possible symmetrically-knotted Indian relatives of the 'Kyoto' group, the other being a fragment advertised by Jeremy Pine in HALI 78 (p.56).
1.

IMAGE DETAILS

1. Indian or northwest Persian Carpet, 17th/18th century. 1.50 x 3.48m (4'11" x 11'5"). Peter Pap at the NY Winter Antiques Show "

Research Paper Summaries Ittig, Annette Louise

2006-03-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

Research Paper Summaries: "Ittig, Annette Louise
A catalogue of twentieth century coffee house paintings in the collection of Her Imperial Majesty Farah, Shabanu of Iran. [Toronto]: c 1977.
[vii], 202 leaves, illus.; bibl. (pp 29-35).
M. Museol. thesis, University of Toronto.
Introduction (pp 1-28) traces the historical background and stylistic ancestry of the paintings in this collection, stored in the Negarestan Museums ince 1975. The catalogue follows (pp 35 to 202); it is divided into two parts : iconography based on literary themes, and iconography derived from religious subjects. "

Canadian International Policy :: Dr. Annette Ittig

2006-03-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

Canadian International Policy :: Library :: Publications :: Canada - Asia Pacific Relations: "Annette Ittiq (Consultant)
Dr. Annette Ittig is an area specialist and international development practitioner with extensive project management experience in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. She has worked with several UN and international NGOs in both Taliban and Northern Alliance Afghanistan, including assignments with UNICEF, the World Food Programme, UNOCHA, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and the International Rescue Committee. These missions have variously involved refugee, returnee and IDP programming and program evaluation; microenterprise development; post-disaster relief and reconstruction; human rights (Western and Islamic) and IHL. Dr. Ittig's most recent assignment in Afghanistan was as the Principal Researcher for the 2001 World Bank/UNDP Afghanistan watching brief on remittances. Each of these missions has involved extensive interaction with local communities, including male and female civil society groups. Dr. Ittig holds her Ph.D. from University of Oxford, England. She is currently under contract to the Pakistan/Afghanistan Division, Asia Branch of CIDA."

e-cmes Alumni Voices: Dr. Thomas R. Stauffer, 1935-2005: Some Personal Reflections

2006-03-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

e-cmes Alumni Voices: Dr. Thomas R. Stauffer, 1935-2005: Some Personal Reflections: "February 16, 2006HOME >> ALUMNI VOICES
Dr. Thomas R. Stauffer, 1935-2005: Some Personal Reflections
by John Gault

Dr. Thomas R. Stauffer, the widely respected energy analyst, author, educator, consultant, and graduate of Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), died in March 2005 after a long illness.

I first met Tom in the autumn of 1967 at Harvard. Basim Musallam introduced us. Tom was at the time a research fellow at the Center who was completing his Ph.D. dissertation, doing research on the petroleum industry, and teaching courses on Middle East economics. At 32 years old, Tom joked that he was a perpetual student who might never complete his dissertation. Tom's office was in the suite of his (and my) mentor, Prof. A. J. Meyer, Associate Director of the Center, then located at 1737 Cambridge Street.

Tom completed his brilliant dissertation in 1971 and, almost simultaneously, developed and introduced the now standard methods of analysis of petroleum fiscal regimes. Tom and A.J. Meyer were instrumental in creating and expanding Harvard¹s oil and energy seminar which became one of the most popular courses in the wake of the two oil price shocks in 1973 and 1979.

But Tom was far more than a superb economic analyst and inspiring teacher. Tom had an abiding interest in the culture and traditions of the Middle East. In the 1960s, he and his wife Ilse traveled with the Qashqai nomads and made several films about their lifestyle and rug-making. (Tom later donated these films to the Smithsonian Institution.)

Tom became one of the advisors of my own doctoral dissertation and I was privileged to work with him on a number of interesting assignments, in addition to serving as his teaching assistant in several courses. Over the years we collaborated on issues related to natural gas pricing and rationing
in the United States, the design and negotiation of a new type of production sharing agreement, inter-fuel competition, and the optimal design of petroleum fiscal systems.

By the 1980s, I had moved from Boston to Geneva while Tom had taken up a teaching position at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. We visited each other often during this fruitful period. I discovered the countryside around Vienna with Tom and his family, while Tom accompanied me on a number of hiking and cross-country ski expeditions in the mountains near Geneva. Later, after Tom and his family had moved to Washington, DC, we continued to meet on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tom's prodigious professional writings spanned such subjects as the measurement of corporate rates-of-return; the economics of gas-based industrialization in the Gulf; the impact of tax systems on oil exploration incentives; the effects of tariff designs on pipeline economics; the politics of water in the Middle East; and the economic cost to the United States of its Middle East policies.

Some of Dr. Stauffer's writings reflected his frequent involvement as an expert in arbitrations. Among his oft-cited papers are those dealing with risk and hydrocarbon property evaluation; regression models and their limitations in litigation; and the valuation of expropriated assets.

Tom was a good friend of OPEC and an advisor to the oil ministers of several member countries. OPEC invited Tom to speak frequently at its secretariat in Vienna, and awarded Tom a prize for his career accomplishments at the OPEC Seminar in autumn 2004.

Dr. Stauffer was also a serious stamp collector with an odd specialization: stamps overprinted and re-issued by occupation forces or revolutionary regimes, particularly in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Central Asia.

I cannot close without emphasizing the irrepressible curiosity and the indefatigable good humor which were essential parts of Tom's personality.

At a memorial service in Washington in June 2005 I recounted how Tom had introduced me to the Belgian cartoon character and boy journalist Tintin. Some of our shared adventures in Latin America and the Middle East were quite Tintin-esque, including a narrow escape from a revolution reminiscent
of "Tintin et les Picaros".

Like Tintin, Tom had eclectic interests, was always ready for a new adventure, clearly saw through the pompous posturing of politicians and ideologues, and took risks to set the record straight.

Dr. Stauffer is survived by his wife, three children and one grandson.

John Gault (PhD '75) is an independent consultant on energy economics based in Geneva."

e-cmes Alumni Voices: Dr. Thomas R. Stauffer, 1935-2005: Some Personal Reflections

2006-03-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

MercuryNews.com | 03/17/2006 | PERSIAN RUGS

2006-03-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

MercuryNews.com | 03/17/2006 | PERSIAN RUGS: "Posted on Fri, Mar. 17, 2006
VENTURE CAPITALPERSIAN RUGSBy Matt MarshallMercury NewsOnly in Silicon Valley, perhaps, can Persian rug merchants turn into venture capitalists.
For years, Saeed Amidi and his family have shown off elegant Persian and other Oriental carpets to customers of their store, the Medallion Rug Gallery, on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto.
The upscale area isn't a bad place to run a rug store, given the number of affluent executives and entrepreneurs willing to buy nice carpets for their homes. The store became a base for networking with well-heeled venture capitalists, who whet the appetite of Amidi and his brother to navigate the VC waters themselves.
The Amidis have invested in more than 20 companies since 1998 and are now picking up the pace. In January, Amidi, 46, and his brother bought and transformed a 40,000-square-foot building in Sunnyvale into an incubator for high-tech start-ups called Plug & Play.
``We're very entrepreneurial,'' says Amidi, referring to himself and his brother, Rahim. ``We're big risk takers and didn't want to be left out.''
It is all part of the transformation of the Amidi family and their business, the Amidi Group.
Saeed Amidi arrived in the valley in 1979 with the rest of his family after the Iranian revolution. The Iranian government nationalized most of his father's 11 factories, which had employed 7,000 people.
Each member of the family set about opening a business in the United States. Amidi's father had the idea to open the carpet store, and Amidi and Rahim helped out.
Amidi left college before getting a degree and started a packaging business, exporting mostly non-technology goods. He later started a bottled water business that now rakes in more than $100 million a year and employs 600, mostly in Europe and the Caribbean, he says.
Rahim Amidi, meanwhile, focused on real estate, which has since become the largest part of the family business. It was real estate that launched the family into funding start-ups.
The brothers, together with another Iranian immigrant, Pejman Nozad, created a separate arm, called Amidzad, for their VC activity.
It started in the mid-1990s, when they bought a tiny office at 165 University Ave. in Palo Alto.
It was great timing. As the technology market picked up in the late 1990s, the real estate market tightened, and companies became desperate to move into the popular Palo Alto area.
Internet boom
At the time, the brothers were wondering how they could participate in the Internet gold rush. So when PayPal, an online payments company, said it wanted to lease a space at 165 University, Saeed Amidi recalls, he demanded the family be allowed to invest.
PayPal agreed. And when the company went public in 2002 and then was sold to eBay, Amidi made a tidy 30-fold-plus return on investment, he says.
Looked at one way, that's money PayPal could have kept for itself, had it decided not to move into Amidi's property. But Peter Thiel, then PayPal's chief executive, says it was worth it. ``It was kind of a lucky office,'' he says, mentioning Google had the office previously. Thiel's company was able to hang its banner out of the window, and everyone on University Avenue got to see the company brand, he recalls. ``I still think Palo Alto may be the single best location for a start-up.''
The Amidzad trio began to make more investments. They invested $400,000 early on in Palo Alto mobile device and software maker Danger. The deal germinated when co-founder Andy Rubin bought a $5,000 rug from Amidi's store. Danger also moved into 165 University.
Amidzad has since teamed up with numerous other VCs to make investments. One is Barr Dolan of Charter Venture Capital, and another is Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital, both of whom have bought rugs from the store.
Amidi won't say how much his firm has made off the VC deals, but he is anxious to pick up the pace. He expects to make investments in 10 start-ups this year.
Networking through tea and cocktail events at the rug store is one way: They invite a dozen or so people per gathering.
``Jazz, wine and hors d'oeuvres,'' recalls Vipin Jain, an entrepreneur who met Amidi during one of these events last year. A red Ferrari Modena was parked on one of the store's poshest carpets, he recalls.
Jain has since moved his Internet company into Amidi's new incubator in Sunnyvale.
The connections became quite complex at times. At one point, an angel investor named Ron Conway invested in eRugs
.com, an online rug company the Amidis had launched. In return, the Amidis invested money into Conway's VC fund, which in turn invested in a small search engine called Google.
The new Plug & Play incubator in Sunnyvale will be another source of deals.
Amidi lets people pay for rent and office services according to how many workers they have -- between $400 and $450 per person per month. No pesky yearlong leases.
Some 20 start-ups have already moved in to the building, and Amidi has even invested in two of them -- Gabbly, which offers live chat on any Web site, and Melody, a secretive online music site in which some Google executives have also invested.
Valley observers say there is nothing else quite like Amidi's business incubator, where so many start-ups can share services like a cafeteria and, soon, even legal, accounting and human resources help. There are even Friday happy hours with beer and Beanie Bag toys lining a conference room wall.
`Right ambience'
Shridhar Mukund, president of Arithmosys, is building a semiconductor start-up and moved in to the Plug & Play space in January. Mukund says being close to other start-ups has helped with hiring new employees. ``Whether you have one, or two, or three people you feel like you have the right ambience and color,'' he says.
Jain, the Internet entrepreneur, began looking for office space last year but then saw the incubator advertised on craigslist. He moved in because it offered Internet, phone and kitchen services all as part of the package.
And, of course, Amidi asked Jain if he could make an investment in his start-up. But Jain had finished raising his most recent round of venture capital, so politely turned him down. Still, Amidi pleaded, leading Jain to promise he would consider letting him invest later this year. ``He was forceful,'' said Jain."

BillingsGazette.com :: Davidson Design looks across street to future

2006-03-15T21:49:00.000-05:00

BillingsGazette.com :: Davidson Design looks across street to future: "Davidson Design looks across street to future
By DANA MOSS PULIS
For The Gazette

Even outside the remodeling project going on at the old City Brew location at 2228 Grand Ave., something indicated it wasn't your typical remodeling.

An Oriental rug lay across the entrance for people to wipe their feet on before entering the construction zone. Another Oriental rug being used to catch stray paint was sprawled across a work bench.

Only a design and decorating company could get away with that.

"Oh, just our old Oriental rug samples," said Pat Davidson, owner of Davidson Design at 2223 Grand Ave. Nonetheless, most businesses would consider it a treat to have rugs adorning their floors after the construction was over. Davidson Design is used to having such accessories around. The 18-year-old business is making a whopping move this month, all the way across the street from its current location. The buildings are so close that Davidson joked it would be easier to set the business's possessions on a roller and slide it across Grand Avenue in the wee hours of a trafficless morning.

"We might just do it," she said.

For the past two years, Davidson Design has looked for a new building. The business had outgrown the current 4,000-square-foot space, but finding and constructing a new building proved to be difficult and time-consuming, Davidson said.

When City Brew moved out of the space, Davidson was ecstatic about the idea of staying in the area and moving just across the street.

"One of the things we did right at first was to place our store initially on the West End," she said. "It is very accessible." And, she said, clients won't have to drive to a new area of town after the move.

"We got excited that the addresses were so close. Instead of being at 2223 (Grand Ave.), we are at 2228," Davidson said. "And we can just make the 3 an 8 until all our business cards are gone. We get a good chuckle over that one."

The business is a multigenerational operation, with Davidson's daughter, Tiffany, working with her mother for the past 14 years. Davidson also has her grandchildren helping her from time to time on various projects.

"We like the two-generation thing going in that we have a great team," she said. "We like to work together on projects."

Both mother and daughter were amazed to find beautiful original maple wood floors at the building and a cedar tongue-and-groove ceiling. At one point in its history, the building was Skate Land, and skaters flew across the wood floors. Davidson had them restored to a beautiful luster.

The new space brings an additional 2,000 square feet and will be used to showcase more furniture on-site, as well as to house a mega-resource center with samples of fabrics, tapestries, wall coverings and colors.

On a bittersweet note, one room, called "Dara's Closet Distinctive Accessories Really Awesome," is named after a beloved employee who was killed not too long ago in a car accident.

Davidson Design hopes to open the new location around mid- to late March. The design team planned its own architecture. Carpenter Construction provided the contracting, and First Interstate Bank provided the financing."

Idaho Mountain Express: Davies Reid proprietor Heidi Davies - March 15, 2006

2006-03-15T21:28:00.000-05:00

Idaho Mountain Express: Living in downtown mixed-use building has perks, drawbacks - March 15, 2006: "Living in downtown mixed-use building has perks, drawbacks
Jackson mayor pushes concept to preserve resort town's core
by REBECCA MEANY

Davies Reid proprietor Heidi Davies walks in front of the window of her store in Jackson, Wyo., last month. Davies and her family live and work in the historic building on the town square. Express photo by Rebecca Meany

A Tale of Two Cities
First in a series of two

--------------------------

The commute from home to work for Davies Reid proprietor Heidi Davies is a flight of stairs.

She and husband Michael Miller, who have stores in Ketchum and Boise, opened up shop in Jackson, Wyo., nearly five years ago.

A labor of love turned a historic building on the town square into a home upstairs and a renovated store downstairs. It became an ideal setting for their inventory of oriental rugs and Asian decor.

"(The building) needed desperate help," Davies said. "It needed some TLC. This building has more character than most buildings in Jackson. Most are boxes with facades. We're trying to dress up this box."

In addition to customers' requests for a Jackson store, Davies and Miller were drawn to the western Wyoming resort town because they liked the town square concept.

"The whole town is centered around it," Davies said. "It felt like there was a core."

Jackson Mayor Mark Barron said he'd like to get more people living and working downtown—a concept he said would lessen traffic problems, curb sprawl and create a greater sense of community.

"It's a community value to enable more people working here to live here," he said.

However, a series of ordinances the mayor and Town Council passed in 2003 to bring about that end were overturned by referendum.

For Miller, that means the town is going in the wrong direction—outward rather than upward.

Many people are relocating to Teton Village, a community 12 miles northwest of Jackson, adjacent to the Jackson Hole ski area.

"If this town doesn't do something to focus development in the core, it's all going to move out to the village," Miller said.

"And that would really hurt downtown," Davies added.

Ketchum's downtown was deemed to be so impacted by changing demographics and increasing land values that the City Council enacted a six-month moratorium on single-family residential development in the commercial core.

City leaders said the emergency ordinance was needed because of disappearing retail space and the accompanying dwindling sales taxes.

The moratorium, followed by the hiring of economic development consultant Tom Hudson, are considered the first steps in amending the approach to downtown development and regulation. It could also pave the way for denser, higher-occupancy living spaces.

During the process of formulating a downtown master plan, Ketchum residents, officials and business owners will conceptualize a city core that is both more vibrant and more welcoming.

"You need that concept of 'Town is Heart' that politicians talk about," Miller said. "If you had more people living downtown, you'd have a more vibrant downtown."

The Jackson/Teton County transportation master plan describes the town of Jackson as the heart of the region, Barron said.

"It says the town of Jackson will be the gathering place of the community," he said. "Linked to that, in order to mitigate that, there should be 1,200 dwelling units in town to enable it to happen in the most efficient manner."

Mixed-use buildings where people live and work is a well-established concept, but one that modern Americans have gotten away from.

"We're not inventing anything here," Barron said. "We're realizing it did work."

Downtown living is not without its pitfalls, however.

"It's difficult to live downtown," Davies said. "There's no residential parking. Locals won't come downtown in the summer. It's a zoo. We can't find a place to park."

Jackson is the southern gateway community for Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, and has a robust outdoor recreation industry that includes fishing, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, camping and whitewater rafting. And, while the 3 million visitors who pass through Jackson each summer are good for business, the buzz of activity can sometimes reach fever pitch.

"The town square has a highway system that goes right through it," Barron said. "Visitors will naturally be drawn to it."

Although Ketchum's visitor count is much lower, state Highway 75 brings 16,000 vehicles into town each day.

To create a greater sense of place for locals, and to quiet vehicular activity, Davies and Miller would like to see the streets around Jackson's town square closed off to vehicle traffic and turned in to a walking mall.

Maintaining a sense of community is achieved in part by a town's atmosphere, its visual connections to local history and possibilities for daily human interaction.

"People have a very strong feeling of keeping that Western feel," Barron said, "but that's a very subjective challenge."

The building occupied by Davies Reid was Jackson Drug for many years, and its 1937 soda fountain counter and bar stools remain.

"It's important to keep history intact," Davies said. "It keeps the charm. To tear it down would kind of be sacrilege."

Davies, a former Wood River Valley resident, said Ketchum and Blaine County leaders had foresight when enacting development regulations.

Jackson, on the other hand, has let growth taint the town's character, Davies said, especially on the road into town.

"It's ugly," she said. "Driving into Ketchum is so cute. A lot of people we meet here go to Ketchum and say, 'What a cute town.' I think Ketchum has done a really good job with planning and zoning and things they allow into town. Why would Jackson allow McDonald's when there's no coffee shops?"

Ketchum residents have been offering input and working hands-on to formulate a downtown master plan.

Public art, streetscapes, historic preservation and pedestrian corridors are aspects of the vision.

Once that plan is implemented, Barron said, allocating money for upkeep is a necessary investment.

"We wash trash cans once a week so they look nice," he said. "We repair crosswalks every spring, improve worn boardwalks and enhance safer pedestrian crosswalks.

"Walking is an experience. If you make it a pleasant experience, people will want to do it.""

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE / Child labor beneath our feet

2006-03-14T08:48:00.000-05:00

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE / Child labor beneath our feet: "PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
Child labor beneath our feet
Louis Freedberg

Monday, March 13, 2006

IT' WAS AN UNEXPECTED, even odd, question for a rug designer to pose.

"Would you want an 8-year-old painting your house?" asked Alice Keshishian, owner of Carpets of Imagination in Petaluma.

Probably not, even if I could get the job done at a deeply discounted price.

Yet most of us probably wouldn't give a second thought to buying a rug made with the delicate, and overworked, hands of children as young as 6. Until recently, it would have been easy to claim ignorance about the pervasive and mostly hidden use of abusive child labor in the handmade carpet business.

No longer. A growing number of designers, importers and retail outlets in the Bay Area, including Keshishian, have linked up with Rugmark, a nonprofit organization that for a decade has been working to get children out of the rug trade. A Rugmark label on a rug certifies that no tiny hands were involved in making it. (For the full list of Bay Area Rugmark outlets, go to www.rugmark.org.)

If you think you got a good deal on a rug, there's a good chance it was produced with the help of poorly paid children, if they were paid at all. Some children work as virtual slaves called "apprentices" in return for one meal a day and a place to sleep. Sometimes, parents accept a fee to "loan" their child to a loom owner.

Today, an estimated 300,000 children are toiling in the rug trade in Pakistan, India and Nepal alone. Those three countries account for half of the $1.2 billion in sales of handmade rugs in the United States.

I can hear the groans now. Free-trade coffee. Dolphin-safe tuna. Now I have to feel guilty about enjoying the rug in my living room?

Well, probably.

Until now, it would have been possible to plead ignorance. But now all we have to do is look for the Rugmark label, which certifies that a rug has not been tainted with child labor. Rugmark inspectors follow up, making unannounced visits to make sure no children have been lured back to the looms. If necessary, they are "rescued" from servitude and placed in a network of schools, rehabilitation centers and child-care centers Rugmark has set up.

The goal is "not just getting kids off the looms, but turning their lives around as well," explained Avner Lapovsky of Sloan Miyasato at the San Francisco Design Center, which carries rugs with the Rugmark label.

Some of Rugmark's income comes from a small fee paid by exporters and importers totaling 1/2 percent of the retail value of the carpet. That adds negligibly to the cost. "On a $2,000 rug, the cost of making sure kids aren't exploited is about $10," says Nina Smith, executive director of Rugmark USA. Other support comes from foundations such as the Skoll Foundation in Palo Alto, established by Jeffrey Skoll, the founding president of eBay. Last year, Rugmark received one of the foundation's "social entrepreneurship" awards, along with a three-year grant to support its work.

The number of kids in the rug trade has dropped by 70 percent over the past decade. But there's still a long way to go. Last year, rugs with the Rugmark label had a retail value of about $30 million. But that represents only 1 1/2 percent of the handmade-rug market in the United States.

In January, Rugmark launched a national campaign, initially focusing on New York and San Francisco. The goal: to increase rugs with the Rugmark label to 7 percent of the U.S. market over the next three years, and to 15 percent over the next decade. Smith believes that once 15 percent of the rug industry is liberated from child labor that will have a cascading effect on the entire industry. "If we're successful, we'll be able to say that we have literally wiped out child servitude from the rug industry," she said.

Ultimately, it will be up to consumers, such as you and me, to pitch in. The greatest impact, says Stephen Miller, the owner of Stephen Miller Galleries in Menlo Park, "will come from the customer asking for rugs made without child labor."

Louis Freedberg is a Chronicle editorial writer. E-mail him at lfreedberg@sfchronicle.com"

FT.com / Arts & Weekend - In love with the fabric of life By BB Timberlake

2006-03-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

FT.com / Arts & Weekend - In love with the fabric of life: "In love with the fabric of life
By BB Timberlake
Published: March 10 2006 11:51 | Last updated: March 10 2006 11:51

Explaining love is difficult, so I’ll start at the beginning. I first became infatuated with rugs last summer in a small town by the Iraq-Iran border, where I was making a film for Sky News.

It was a remarkably odd time to undergo an aesthetic awakening. I had been accompanying some Serbian mercenaries and Ivan, their leader, invited me to join him on a shopping excursion. As his men stood guard outside the bazaar, we drank lots of sweet tea, examined countless rugs, or carpets as they call them, and haggled with the dealer. My defining image of the day is kneeling on the floor with this trained killer as he enthused about knot-count and rare dyes that made up the blues of an intricate Nain rug. He bought it for his mother. Serb men, even Serb mercenaries, are notorious mummy’s boys.

I left Iraq with several tribal Qashqa’i rugs and a desire to know more. Back in London, I phoned up Essie Sakhai, one of Europe’s foremost rug dealers, and asked him for some work experience.

Sakhai has spent a life in rugs. He comes from a family of Tehran Jews and has that bewitching contentment of a man lucky enough to have made a living from his passion. He has written numerous books on rugs and advises many museums and collectors. His main store is on Piccadilly overlooking St James’s Palace.

The word store gives the wrong impression – it is more like an art gallery where friends meet. There are no “sale” signs in the windows and no “stack’em high, sell’em quick” attitudes inside. Would you buy piled-up oil paintings advertised as 75 per cent off? Working with Sakhai, I realised that the most important thing for would-be rug buyers is to find a good dealer. He seemed just as happy to share his knowledge as to make a sale.

The apprenticeship also made me ask myself why I care for rugs. The answer is simple really. As a journalist I love storytelling and rugs do just that. Each piece is a testimony to the weaver’s origins. Some designs are common to whole cities and tribes, while other motifs might be exclusive to a particular family.

Look closer at the individual knots and the patterns they make. These simple sequences – such as one blue, three red, five green – are passed orally down the generations. They are like musical notation to songs, a sort of a genetic code of a culture.

Rugs form an integral part of life for a vast swathe of humanity from the Mediterranean to the edges of China. People are born on them; they barter with them and eat off them; rugs form dowry payments and are investments for people without banks. Covering wars and disasters, I have seen refugees fleeing for their lives through mountain passes. They always carry their rugs with them.

Rugs are not merely the fabric of life but of religion as well. Islamic culture has no separation between art and religion as the west does today. In the world of Islam, rugs are not merely works of art but aids to contemplation. Peering into the dense imagery and symbolism of my own rugs, I am reminded of the most beautiful examples of illuminated medieval manuscripts in the British Library, dating from the times when art was the servant of the Christian church.

For Sakhai, picking a rug is one of the most important decisions people make about their homes. “A good carpet makes a room and gives soul to a house. It is not merely an object of great beauty but an investment that can give you enormous pleasure on a daily basis. Decide what size you need and then follow your heart. It is about what attracts you.”

There is a rug to suit every style of decoration. The bold, geometric Quashqa’i one I bought in Iraq suits the modern, minimalist room where it sits in my home. Yet another ornate and intricate rug I bought for a friend sits perfectly in her house cluttered with antiques, books and icons.

There is no single indication of a rug’s quality or value. Too many people give importance to knot-count but that’s like judging a suit solely by its thread-count or a digital camera by its pixel count alone. What is important is how the many factors of design, materials and the skill of the artist work together. A good rug is like a good view – what would you like to gaze at each day?

Another factor is how much wear your rug will receive. If it is for the hallway, pick a rug made of sturdy wools; a silk piece might live more comfortably in the bedroom. A good dealer will guide you to the appropriate quality and design for the right place and ensure you have the best example of a particular style.

He or she should also tend to you and your rugs long after the point of sale. Sakhai, for example, has the Carpet Club, offering customers ongoing advice and services. Every so often rugs are collected, cleaned and examined, and a written report about them is prepared. Sakhai also handles valuations and deals with insurance companies, including maintaining photos of customers’ rugs. Anyone who decides to sell can also ask to have those photos transferred into a virtual showroom online – owners can make their rugs available to buyers while still enjoying them at home.

In recent years, Sakhai has come across two misunderstandings that are worth noting. The first concerns child labour: these Persian rugs can only be produced by skilled weavers. Children are no more capable of weaving a fine rug than they are of producing a Chippendale cabinet. Second is allergies: good rugs are made from the finest wools and silks and have none of the synthetic fibres and glues loved by dust mites.

Speaking from experience, I must warn that mites seem less dangerous than being bitten by the rug bug. Anyone who spends a day with a good dealer should expect to start revelling in walks through floors filled with rugs, flushed with the joy of finding a particularly interesting example. You start to judge friends by what’s on their floor. Indeed, you may never look up again.

Every day, as I cross my study, I tread across a garden of Eden of naïve animals and birds, and not a week goes by without my noticing something new in that bright tangle of design and meaning. This week I spotted a reindeer. He has no business among the peacocks and other Persian animals, so I can only imagine that he leaped from satellite TV into the weaver’s mind and down on to the loom. That reindeer is yet another new character in a never-ending story.

Meanwhile, my affair with carpets is just beginning. And I am smitten."

FT.com / Arts & Weekend - In love with the fabric of life By BB Timberlake

2006-03-10T10:48:00.000-05:00

St. Louis Business Journal: Rich Rugs - 2001-04-09

2006-03-07T10:37:00.000-05:00

St. Louis Business Journal: Rich Rugs - 2001-04-09: "Rich Rugs
Asadorian Rug Co. imports and sells some of the finest Oriental rugs
St. Louis Business Journal - April 6, 2001by Ron Janecke
Business activity: The lifting of the United States embargo on certain goods imported from Iran, including Persian rugs, has opened another door for Asadorian Rug Co. Inc.

The third-generation, family business that imports and exports Oriental rugs is run by Rich Asadorian and his cousin, Stephen. They work out of their showroom on Natural Bridge Road, near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus.

The showroom has a large selection, ranging from mats to 14- by 27-foot rugs. The average size sold, 9-by-12 feet, sells for about $4,000. The company started selling imported rugs about 85 years ago.

"You can basically add a zero to the costs of rugs today, compared to what they sold for when my grandfather ran the business," said Rich Asadorian. "Those $200 to $300 rugs now cost from $2,000 to $3,000."

An inventory at the end of January showed Asadorian had 7,000 pieces in the store, including rugs being repaired or cleaned. Restoration and repair is a key component of the business.

Asadorian picks up the rugs and does the work at its Bel-Nor location. Everything is repaired, from burns to damage done by flower pots to areas chewed by dogs. Oriental rugs are extremely durable and can go six or seven years without being cleaned.

Four times a year, Rich Asadorian travels to the Far East to order rugs and to see the latest products being handmade by weavers. In August, he visited Nepal for three weeks, traveling to remote villages where women spend their entire time weaving, eating and sleeping in a community.

Asadorian has established relationships with agents, who scout markets before he makes the trips. He pays agents and shares them with other rug dealers whom he has gotten to know. His travels have taken him to India, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Romania and Nepal. He's also been to Hanover, Germany, one of the biggest rug markets in Europe.

"I try to learn enough about the country and the various tribes so not to show my ignorance," Asadorian said. "When I'm in one of these villages, I eat and drink what is offered me so I don't offend them."

Shipments of 30 bales each, averaging seven to 10 rugs a bale, are imported four times a year.

During the Iran import embargo, Asadorian was used as an expert by U.S. immigration officials. They brought him rugs confiscated at the airport to see if the rugs had been imported illegally from Iran.

Besides retail sales in St. Louis, the company sells rugs wholesale to dealers in Atlanta and on both coasts. A large percentage of the business locally is in the St. Louis metropolitan area, with much of it in west St. Louis County. Customers also come from Carbondale, Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau and Kansas City.

Executives: Rich Asadorian, 49, is co-owner and in charge of imports and sales. A native of Granite City, he graduated from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston in 1973 with a degree in business and finance management. After living in an area of Granite City where there is an Armenian community, he moved to Missouri with his wife and two sons two years ago.

His cousin, Stephen Asadorian, 32, is co-owner and in charge of the restoration and cleaning side of the business. A graduate of McCluer North High School, he entered the family business in 1986.

The other full-time employees are Dave Ellis, who has been with the firm 49 years, and Teo Brick, a native of Bosnia. Ali Shirazian, a native of Iran, weaves part- time restoring rugs.

Company history: Rich Asadorian's grandfather, Stephon, emigrated from Armenia in the early 1900s. One of four brothers to come to the United States, he went to Granite City to work at the American Steel Foundry.

He also began doing repair work at night on rugs for May Department Stores and Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney and in 1926 opened the first Asadorian store, featuring elegant oriental rugs. He also had a brother in New York who sold rugs when New York served as the port of entry in those days.

Rich's father, Edward, and his uncle, Higus, took over the business from the founder, with Edward joining the company in 1944 after serving in World War II.

When Rich graduated from college, he entered the business. "I came in with my own ideas about how to run the business, and my dad and uncle gave me just enough rope to hang myself."

Asadorian was helped by the strong economy in the late '90s and in 2000 and by a trend to more hardwood floors in homes. "In the 1950s, everyone went for broadloom carpet," he said. "With the development of new coatings to treat hardwood floors, more people wanted hardwood floors. The boom in new housing also helped us."

Revenue: Sales hit $1 million in 2000, a growth of 8 percent over 1999. Revenue jumped 12 percent from 1998 to 1999.

Professional services: Lee Koch at First Bank handles financial dealings; Pat Badalamenti of Badalamenti & Associates is the accountant; Laura Slay at Laura Slay & Associates Inc. does public relations and marketing. Asadorian does not deal with a law firm on a regular basis.

The future: April 28, the company will have a showing of rugs from Iran, including collectibles made by villagers. Asadorian also plans to revisit Iran later this year, now that the embargo has been lifted.

rjanecke@bizjournals.com"

St. Louis Business Journal: Reza Jafarian of St. Louis-based Asadorian Rug Co. Inc.

2006-03-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

St. Louis Business Journal: Life after the attacks - 2001-09-24: "Life after the attacks
Muslims face personal assaults; others deal with delayed shipments from Middle Eastern suppliers
St. Louis Business Journal - September 21, 2001by Margaret Jackson
Since Reza Jafarian left Iran Monday, the most difficult thing he's had to deal with as an American Muslim is tightened airport security.

Jafarian, who handles the wholesale business for St. Louis-based Asadorian Rug Co. Inc., flew from Tehran, Iran, where he was visiting family; to Frankfurt, Germany; to a business meeting in Dusseldorf, Germany, where security officers asked to check his bag.

"Normally, they would never do that," said Jafarian, a Muslim originally from Iran. "But I would assume that if you have a Middle Eastern appearance or features, you would be more likely to be stopped."

He was not stopped when he entered the United States through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before continuing to St. Louis.

"I'm 45 years old and I have gray hair, and I don't look like one of those young kids," Jafarian said. "If I was in my mid-20s and had real Middle Eastern features, I probably would have been stopped. I've heard from some other friends who haven't been treated nicely."

Meanwhile, Jafarian's boss Rich Asadorian, co-owner of Asadorian Rug, said he hasn't been harassed, but is worried about his third-generation family business that imports and exports rugs. Sales hit $1 million last year.

Business had picked up after the United States lifted an embargo earlier this year on goods imported from Iran, including Persian rugs. Now, Asadorian is uncertain whether he'll be allowed to continue importing from there.

"If Iran doesn't cooperate, they might say we're going back to the embargo," said Asadorian, whose grandfather emigrated from Armenia in the early 1900s. "It's too soon to say what's going to happen."

Asadorian still is expecting shipments of rugs and yarn (for the repair end of his business) that have been delayed since the attack.

While Asadorian was born in the United States and his family is Christian, he also could be the target of attacks against people who appear to be from the Middle East.

Anna Crosslin, president and chief executive of the International Institute of Metropolitan St. Louis, said it's not just Muslims who are likely targets of hate crimes. Anyone who has the appearance of being from the Middle East could feel the backlash from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It's people who the community perceives as being Middle Eastern -- not just those dressed in the traditional garb," she said. "People can't tell the difference between our Afghan refugees, Afghans who are Christians, Indians or Pakistanis."

Others haven't been as fortunate as Asadorian and Jafarian.

Dr. Ghazala Hayat, a neurologist on the Saint Louis University faculty, said she and her family have received threatening phone calls at home. The callers have said, "Watch out, we're coming for you," or "Why don't you leave the country?

Hayat, who also is the chairperson of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, said the calls scared her 20-year-old daughter so much she was afraid to open the door -- a reaction Hayat discourages for the region's more than 50,000 Muslim residents.

"I'm telling the whole community to be careful, but please go out," Hayat said. "Don't go into a shell. There are a lot of people who don't know what the religion is about, and they won't if you don't tell them."

So far, there has been at least one report of physical abuse against a person from the Middle East. A 31-year-old immigrant from Jordan said he was beaten and hit on the head with a tire iron in a fight with a man and a woman because of his Middle Eastern heritage.

Crosslin said many of her organization's clients also have been verbally harassed, but there hasn't been any physical violence.

"People don't understand how broad Islam is and how you can have radical elements the same way you do in Christianity," she said. "We don't think all Christians are terrible because some radical Christians go out and shoot doctors and bomb abortion clinics. But that broad brush is being applied to all of Islam."

Malik Fazil, who owns a local leather importing and distribution business, said he hasn't received any threatening calls or been the target of any physical violence. Still, he's nervous enough that he asked that the name of business not to be published.

"Under other circumstances, I would be happy to get the free publicity," Fazil said. "I'm just a little nervous. There are strange people who you don't know what they can do. You don't want to be part of that statistic.

"People need to realize that we are just like them, and we are part of the system. If my neighbor his hurting, I'm hurting, too."

Fazil said he's also concerned that his nine-year-old company, which manufactures leather products in Pakistan and imports them to the United States, will suffer. The company has revenue of more than $2 million.

"The shipments are delayed," he said. "Our customers have been very understanding and cooperative with us -- nobody has canceled any orders. But our last shipment was a week ago -- just before the attack."

Mohammed Ibrahim, president of Ibrahim Engineering, said many of his clients have called to make sure he's OK. Ibrahim is only aware of a few incidents where his fellow Muslims have been treated badly -- and then it was more of a dirty look than cruel comments or physical abuse.

He hopes other Americans understand that the terrorists could not technically be Muslim.

"Anyone who would do that is not a Muslim," Ibrahim said. "The religion doesn't teach that you would hurt other people. You don't even hurt your enemy like that."

Zia Mahmood, a Muslim from Bangladesh, has not been a victim of harassment or intimidation, but the financial consultant at the St. Louis branch of the Royal Alliance brokerage firm said it's been difficult to carry on with business as usual.

"I'm so down, and I feel so bad about it," he said. "You don't feel like talking about business."

Mahmood, who has been in St. Louis for 21 years, has both Muslim and non-Muslim clients. He said there's been no distinction in the way each group has responded from a financial standpoint.

"Everybody is uncertain as to what to do," he said. A few people wanted to get out when the market opened Monday, but it's a very small portion. Some people want to be in just to show their support."

mjackson@bizjournals.com"

Iran mulling to advertise Persian Carpet on BBC

2006-03-06T14:16:00.001-05:00

Iran mulling to advertise Persian Carpet on BBC: "Tehran: 18:52 , 2006/03/06

Iran mulling to advertise Persian Carpet on BBC
TEHRAN, Mar. 6 (MNA) -– In its bid to promote its products, namely the hand-woven Persian Carpets, Iran’s National Carpet Center is planning to give a teaser ad to the BBC.
Iran’s National Carpet Center is mulling over the conclusion of a contract with BBC to air a commercial on the luxurious hand-woven carpets produced in Iran, a report quoted Morteza Faraji chairman of the center as saying here on Monday.

He commented that technical issues of the project have been studied. However, the work calls for more considerations on the part of its other aspects. “Other issues including the political aspects of the work should be reviewed”, he further explained.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom."

Iran mulling to advertise Persian Carpet on BBC

2006-03-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

Most Iranian Weavers To Receive Free health Insurance - Irna

2006-02-28T07:27:00.000-05:00

Int'l marketing research for Persian carpets launched: daily - Irna: "Int'l marketing research for Persian carpets launched: daily Tehran, Feb 27, IRNA
Iran-Rug-Market
Iran has launched marketing studies to increase sales of Persian carpets in South Africa, Nepal, Venezuela, Russia and a number of Persian Gulf littoral states, the
English-language `Iran Daily' reported on Tuesday quoting a senior carpet industry official.

Deputy Commerce Minister and head of Iran's National Carpet Center Morteza Faraji added that Iran's carpet industry hopes to export carpets worth half a billion dollars by March, the daily wrote.

The minister, who was the guest speaker at the inaugural ceremony of the 3rd Persian Rug Production and Trade Exhibition, added that the country controls 40 percent of the global handwoven carpet market.

The official further informed that all carpet weavers in rural areas and cities with populations of less than 20,000 will be covered by free health insurance, according to the paper.

He said the exhibition will, in addition to modern production methods, introduce storage techniques for Persian carpet.

Faraji said Germany and the United States were the largest international markets for Persian rugs.

He said that there had been plans to establish a stock exchange for Persian carpets by March 2007.

"It is essential for Iran to set up a carpet bourse as it can help regulate prices and create greater interaction among buyers and sellers," he said, adding that the bourse will also help prevent underpricing of this commodity.

According to the report, Iran exported USD 370.5 million worth of Persian rugs during the March 2005-January 2006 period.

It said some 67 percent of the rugs were exported to Germany, the United States, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Italy and Japan.

The article went on to say that Germany imported USD 89.6 million worth of Persian carpets from Iran during the aforestated period, exports to the US reached USD 67.2 million while figures for the UAE, Italy and Japan stood at USD 34.3 million, USD 33.1 million and USD 24 million, respectively.

Iran exported a total of USD 248 million worth of rugs to the above-mentioned five countries showing an increase of 10 percent as against the figure for the same period in the previous year, the report added."

Dale Huffman: YWCA to honor Susanne "Susie" Mousaian Weaver

2006-02-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

Dale Huffman: YWCA to honor 7 area women: "COMMENTARY

Dale Huffman: YWCA to honor 7 area women
By Dale Huffman

Dayton Daily News

Susanne "Susie" Mousaian Weaver once saw these words on a church signboard, "The purpose of life is the life of purpose."

"Susie adopted that as her life motto," Mary Sue Kessler said. "Her lifetime purpose has been to enhance lives and increase the overall quality of our community."

Kessler, a retired bank official and community activist, nominated Weaver, who has been selected as one of seven women being honored by the YWCA as a 2006 Woman of Influence in Dayton.

The awards luncheon is Tuesday at the Dayton Convention Center. Tickets are still available.

For information, call 461-5550, ext. 179, on Monday.

Weaver's place in Dayton history was entered in the books in 2000 when she was elected the first female president of the Rotary Club of Dayton, one of the area's top service and social organizations.

The club was founded in 1912, and the first women were admitted in 1987.

But Weaver's record of giving goes back to the time when she was a child, Kessler said.

"At age 14, as a candy striper, she was a hospital volunteer."

According to Kessler, Weaver was an Air Force wife who became active in Dayton in 1982 when she returned home.

"One of her first opportunities came when she was named chair of the Dayton Educational Council," Kessler said. "She created workshops, she helped pass levies, and she worked hard to help establish the Dayton Public Schools Youth Advisory Council."

Kessler said that one of Weaver's passions is her family business, Mousaian Oriental Rugs.

"She and her husband, Paul, are proud to represent a third generation working the business."

Since this is an award honoring women of influence, I asked each of the seven winners, all profiled here in the past seven days, if they had their own woman of influence during their formative days.

Weaver said that her mother, Helen Mousaian, was her inspiration.

"She still influences me even though I lost her 20 years ago," Weaver said. "She was a fabulous role model in many ways."

She said her mother worked alongside her father in the family business all her adult life.

"My mother did not have a high school diploma, but made sure that all three of her own children had college educations," Weaver said. "She knew her priorities in life, serving God and touching the lives of family, friends, customers and sometimes folks she never met."

Weaver said, "I'll never forget that my mother was there for me during a very serious illness in my early 20s, and later I am thankful that God gave me the opportunity to be there for her during her terminal illness. She was a woman of great faith which permeated every aspect of her life."

Asked what advice she would give a young woman beginning a career, Weaver answered, "I would tell her to seek a balance in her life early on so that she maintains a healthy lifestyle. Balance time with work, with family, with friends.

"And I would suggest that she will appreciate her community more if she finds a way in which to support it, specifically through volunteerism."

Weaver added, "I was raised with the belief that the more you give, the more you have to give. I like a quote from Dr. Jonas Salk who said, 'The greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.' "

Dale Huffman wants your story ideas. This column is for you. Send e-mail to dhuffman @DaytonDailyNews.com or write to him at 45 S. Ludlow St., Dayton, OH 45402. Fax: (937) 225-2489. Phone: (937) 225-2272."

The Australian: James Mellaart - Molesting the past [February 25, 2006]

2006-02-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

The Australian: Molesting the past [February 25, 2006]: "
Molesting the past
Frank Campbell
February 25, 2006
The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk - An Archeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilisation
By Michael Balter, Simon & Schuster, 400pp, $39.95

ARCHEOLOGY promises the earth. Where do humans come from? How do they relate to other apes? What is culture and when did it begin? When and where did civilisation begin and how did it evolve? Historical archeology, archeology of recent periods that have written or other records to confirm interpretation, is so much easier than prehistoric archeology. This book is about one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world. About 10,000 years old, Catalhoyuk today is a mound 20m high on the bleak Anatolian plateau, composed of hundreds of mudbrick houses covering an area of about 12ha, huge by neolithic standards. Population estimates range from 3500 to 8000. Every few years the inhabitants semi-demolished their houses and built anew on top of the old houses, thus preserving much of their past. The site was occupied for a thousand years.

Catalhoyuk was discovered in 1958 by British archeologist James Mellaart. He was banned from the site in 1965 in circumstances worthy of Agatha Christie, who herself worked on similar sites with her husband Max Mallowan in the 1920s. Treasures disappeared mysteriously. Mellaart now appears to have been the victim both of his own flair for publicity and the jealousies of Turkish academics who felt that their site was being colonised. It made no difference. The British still control the site, but Turkish sensitivities are now managed more diplomatically.

Archeologists dig up their own future. And there's the rub: their careers depend on what they find, how they interpret their finds and how others interpret them. Especially the latter. Careers are at stake. There are very few decent jobs. There's a nasty hierarchy to negotiate. The academics lord it over the specialists, who in turn dominate the excavators. These contract workers, many of whom are professional diggers, often know more about sites, objects and interpretation than either the generalist academics or quasi-scientific specialists. Managing these conflicts is always difficult. When there are a hundred people on site, as in Catalhoyuk, it can be a nightmare.

Archeologists dig up someone else's past, which means nothing but trouble. Present-day nation-states and ethnic groups usually have nothing to do with the extinct culture being investigated, but they still interfere. The Turks are recent arrivals in Anatolia compared with the Catalhoyuk culture, yet that doesn't stop the Turkish state exploiting the site for tourism and nationalist propaganda. From Wales to Australia to Jordan, the present molests the past for its own nefarious purposes.

If careerism and nationalism were all archeologists had to worry about, they'd be laughing and drinking instead of just drinking. The tragedy is that archeology has promised a grand narrative but can deliver only conjecture. The archeologist has no clothes. Certainly, technique has vastly improved. Stratigraphy, dating, palynology and so on have enabled archeologists to describe their sites with real precision. So let's look at what Catalhoyuk has given us: rectangular mud-brick houses, rooms, grain bins, fireplaces, pottery, tools, art on plastered walls, in-house burials, animal bones, bullhorns and lots of figurines.

That's about it. "Let the narrative begin," I hear you say. Alas, there is no story. There are many contradictory, competing hypotheses, of course, which metamorphose into theses, then into books and careers. The crippling truth is that these theories fail the acid test of science: they are in principle unverifiable. The meaning and relationship of objects and patterns found can scarcely move beyond the bare description of the empirical evidence.

Thus the famous figurines may or may not have had religious significance. Maybe they were toys, say some archeologists. Catalhoyuk is a magnet for new-age goddess cultists pining for a primeval matriarchy. Which is just so much Glastonbury fog. At the academic level too, the fat figurines (many apparently sexless) have been thrown about as evidence of matriarchy. In fact, the figurines prove nothing. Likewise the wall art, bullhorns and underfloor burials. The meaning of this culture has gone forever.

And the big picture just gets muddier. The conventional explanation of the neolithic revolution is that agriculture was invented and therefore urbanisation commenced. Today, because of accurate dating, "sedentism" is known to predate agriculture. Well, probably. Some of the time. No one has any idea why Catalhoyuk was founded, abandoned or how it relates to other sites. The schism between the swashbuckling speculations of alpha archeologists and the nerds who stick to the evidence is as wide as ever. Powerful forces are at work: speculation equals promotion. Visit the website www.catalhoyuk.com to see how modest archeologists can't generalise.

Michael Balter is an American science journalist based in Paris. He portrays the archeologists with as much detail, affection and interest as the site itself, which makes for an engaging and entertaining book.

Balter inadvertently illustrates the pointlessness of conjecture by outlining his own big narrative of the neolithic, no more testable than the official versions. He notes just one stark admission by an archeologist on the limitations of prehistoric archeology: "[it] will always be our own fiction.""

Philip Glass melds musical urgency to images in 'Qatsi' film triology

2006-02-20T09:12:00.000-05:00

Philip Glass melds musical urgency to images in 'Qatsi' film triology: "Philip Glass melds musical urgency to images in 'Qatsi' film triology
Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic

Monday, February 20, 2006

Philip Glass is often knocked or mocked for writing the same music over and over. You only have to hear a few minutes of different pieces in juxtaposition to know how misguided a notion that can be.

The score that Glass wrote for Godfrey Reggio's 1983 film "Koyaanisqatsi" is a collection of the composer's trademark gestures in their purest form -- the familiar rippling arpeggios and portentous minor chords, repeated in square but shifting phrases.

But five years later, with "Powaqqatsi," he was grafting those moves onto an exuberant mishmash of world music, fusing a recognizable personal vocabulary with elements from elsewhere.

The two scores sat back-to-back in Davies Symphony Hall over the weekend, courtesy of San Francisco Performances, as members of the Philip Glass Ensemble provided live accompaniment for screenings of all three components of Reggio's cinematic "Qatsi" trilogy. (Sunday's performance wound up the run with "Naqoyqatsi" from 2002.)

Both the contrast and the similarities proved wonderfully telling. Glass' musical signature can be as much a shtick as a style, as some of his more throwaway creations demonstrate; faux Glass is not that hard to come up with if you try.

But when he's writing with real urgency and a sense of the occasion, as in the film scores for "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powaqqatsi," Glass' standard elements combine to create a commanding dramatic landscape.

And hearing the music performed live, by a 10-member ensemble conducted by Music Director Michael Riesman, only added to the feeling of grandeur and scope. Kurt Munkacsi, Glass' longtime sound-design guru, helped sculpt what seemed at times like solid masses of musical material in the air of Davies Hall, and the shifting textures -- now thunderous, now translucent and spare -- made a kaleidoscopic effect.

In the music for "Koyaanisqatsi," the combination of this big, electronically modulated sound with Glass' stripped-down compositional aesthetic produced a piquant sense of contrast. The opening sequence, with a deep-voiced singer rumbling the title over and over in tones both deadpan and ominous, packs a punch that is all the greater for its restricted resources.

Glass casts his net wider for "Powaqqatsi," bringing Afro-pop, Middle Eastern chant and South American folk music into the mix, but interpreting it all through the lens of American minimalism. The most remarkable effect of all this new material is the way it enlivens Glass' rhythmic palette -- meters become punchy and complex, and even the simpler passages boast a vivacity that is not always part of his work.

I linger on Glass' music because Reggio's films, as far as I can ascertain, are pretty much irredeemable tripe. They comprise long, lushly beautiful montages of wordless images, all designed to explore the notion that Western technology is, y'know, like, a total bummer, and that before it hit them, the noble indigenous peoples of the Third World were living in serene harmony with the cosmos.

So on the one hand we have happy fishermen, folk dancers and agricultural workers, but on the other -- uh-oh! -- oil derricks, mushroom clouds and Vegas waitresses with really bad bouffant hairdos, who as we all know are the true purveyors of cultural evil.

"Koyaanisqatsi" (the title, like the others, derives from Hopi) does include one brief and beguiling memory trip for San Franciscans: sped-up footage of a drive along the late and not-very-lamented Embarcadero Freeway. That's something you don't see anymore.

E-mail Joshua Kosman at jkosman@sfchronicle.com."

Fars Province carpets� specialized exhibition to be held soon

2006-02-15T13:12:00.000-05:00

Fars Province carpets� specialized exhibition to be held soon: "Fars Province carpets’ specialized exhibition to be held soon
TEHRAN, Feb. 15 (MNA) -– The 2nd Specialized Exhibition of the Fars Province Carpets will be held next week.
Introducing the carpets produced in Fars Province, exhibiting the national artifact and industry’s advantages over other floor coverings and rugs, development of the domestic markets for the woven carpet, familiarizing the consumers with different styles and designs of the product, encouraging competitions between the carpet producers, achieving a balance between the prices as well as creating a research field for the people interested in the sector have been cited as the main objectives of holding the four-day fair, an official at the Commerce Organization of Fars Province said.

Carpets worth about 82.8 million dollars were exported from the province in the past year. The figure accounted for 16 percent of the nation’s total carpet exports and also 40 percent of the country’s non-oil exports in the same year, the Persian service of Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

Referring to the quality of the carpets woven in Fars Province the official said the products are most welcomed by the customers in the international markets in particular in Germany, the U.S., Japan, Italy, Spain, France and South Africa.

The exhibition will be held for one week at the Fars Province’s Permanent Fairgrounds."

Furniture|Today - Fewer markets? Not likely for most rug vendors

2006-02-14T11:07:00.000-05:00

Furniture|Today - Fewer markets? Not likely for most rug vendors: "Fewer markets? Not likely for most rug vendors
Lissa Wyman -- Furniture Today, 2/13/2006 12:44:00 PM

Rug Column
Everyone says they want fewer markets, but it looks like rug vendors have another one. The recent Atlanta rug market, the Surfaces show in Las Vegas and the Vegas World Market Center show — the new kid on the block — were all hugely successful for the rug business.

That’s the problem. If one had been a bust, rug people would be making a mass exodus. As a niche category, rug folks can’t call the shots on where and when markets take place. They have to show where their customers shop, and their customers are everywhere.

Rugs are sold by every type of retailer — mass merchants, big boxes, home improvement centers, national chains, department stores, furniture stores, rug stores, Internet retailers, catalogs, patio shops, home accent stores, floor covering stores and to-the-trade designer shops. I’ve left out a few, but you get the picture.

In order to reach those channels, rug companies have to exhibit at a whole slew of markets, including High Point, Tupelo, the New York Home Textiles Market, various gift shows, The International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the New York Metro Market for traditional hand-knotted rugs, and floor covering buying group shows. Now add the WMC show to the list.

It’s costly, particularly in an industry comprised largely of independently owned companies with sales under $20 million. (A rug company with sales over $75 million is a giant.)

To an outsider, the solution seems simple: specialize in a few channels and cut down on shows. Easier said than done. Even the smallest vendors dream of scoring a big buy from a major catalog house. Even the biggest are reluctant to give up independent dealers.

The two January shows in Vegas, Surfaces and WMC, were at the same time and in the same town, but they could have been on separate planets. Floor covering people attended Surfaces. Furniture, designer and home accent people went to the WMC. A few Surfaces retailers checked out the WMC, and vice versa. But when we mentioned the WMC show to our broadloom buddies, we were met with uncomprehending stares. They’d never heard of it.

Surfaces is not popular with the rug industry. It’s very expensive but it’s about the only place they are exposed to a big bunch (like 30,000) of floor covering retailers. Some rug people showing at the WMC have kissed the floor covering segment goodbye. Feizy, Masterlooms, Safavieh and Surya have lines much more attuned to the home furnishings industry and they have wholeheartedly embraced the WMC market.

But some are caught between the WMC and Surfaces. Large vendors such as Oriental Weavers, Nourison and Momeni are set to open showrooms next year at the WMC, but they are reluctant to give up on the floor covering channel. Because this year’s Surfaces was a rip-snorting success, some will be showing at both places.

Fewer markets in the future? I don’t think so"

Persian Carpet House, US venture | Retail and Leisure

2006-02-14T08:38:00.000-05:00

Persian Carpet House, US venture | Retail and Leisure: "Persian Carpet House, US venture
United Arab Emirates: 9 hours, 22 minutes ago
Dubai-based Persian Carpet House and Antiques is planning to take its products to the US within two years, reported Gulf News. The company has 23 showrooms in the UAE and is also planning to open new outlets in Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. It has annual turnover of over $27m."

RugNotes: The Prague Post Online

2006-02-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

RugNotes: The Prague Post Online: "Thursday, November 18, 2004
The Prague Post Online
The Prague Post Online: "A market niche turns into a magic carpet ride

Ehsan Abrar built the best carpet store in the country by appealing to his customers' good taste

Abrar brings a designer's sensibilities and a surgeon's skill to his trade.
By Mindy Kay Bricker
For The Prague Post
Over 40 years ago, Ehsan Abrar's brother called from Germany with a simple request: His professor wanted a Persian carpet and needed Abrar, who lived in Iran, to send a selection.

Bought. Sent. Sold. Done.

Then a 20-year-old student of German literature at Teheran University, Abrar and his brother, who was 18 and studying at a technical university in Germany, soon discovered they were on to a lucrative idea. Within months, Abrar was supplying the merchandise for his brother's carpet store in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The international request, though the first, "was not strange to us. We knew the material -- we grew up with carpets," Abrar says, referring both to Iran's second-biggest export (after oil) and his grandfather's business.

Now 63 years old and surrounded by thousands of Persian carpets in Perske Koberce u Manesa, his immaculate Prague 1 store, Abrar has parlayed his background and experience into an enviable position as the Czech Republic's largest dealer of Persian carpets. He sells both new and old carpets from Iran, some of which are one of a kind.

"Our advantage is our experience," he says. "I know the [customers'] taste. I know where they can get the best quality. I have the advantage of where to buy and how to buy. I have the background -- a tradition of carpets."

Restoring fine taste

With a glance and a stroke, Abrar can estimate the value of a rug as skillfully as most people can determine the ripeness of a tomato. By its design, he can tell you the carpet's origin, and by its feel, he can tell you the anatomy of the wool. The highest-quality wool comes from a sheep's neck and shoulders, the lowest from its stomach.

With such inherent knowledge, it was clear to Abrar that there was a market niche in Prague when he visited for the first time six years ago. And like most people visiting the city for the first time, he fell in love with Prague.

Immediately after the government collapsed in 1989, Abrar explains, Dutch antique collectors worked their way through the country buying furniture and carpets at bargain prices. And there were plenty of bargains to be had.

Before communism, Abrar says, Czechs "had a history of purchasing nice things." In particular, they had quality home furnishings. "They have the culture, and they always valued good things, carpets and especially furniture."
PERSKE KOBERCE U MANESA

Owner: Ehsan Abrar
Where: MyslIkova 3, Prague 1
Tel: 272 735 226
Web: www.koberceumanesa.cz

But by the time Abrar arrived, the antique market, including all the best carpets, "was all dried out; there was nothing left."

Abrar took this liquidation of fine taste as a sign that he could have a profitable future selling Persian carpets in Prague. Though he won't disclose his earnings, he says that his business has grown every year. This can be seen in his location and his stock. Abrar moved from Prague 10 to a store near the river in Prague 1 with a repair studio around the corner. He stocks around 5,000 pieces, including an American Sparuk -- a carpet for which in the 1920s an American company created the design and color scheme and placed orders for thousands to be made in Iran. The Sparuk was only sent to the United States; one is displayed in his store, in perfect condition, for 250,000 Kc.

Carpet surgeon

If a repair is complicated, particularly with an antique carpet, Abrar sends it home to Iran. But carpet weaving and producing is not foreign to the Czech Republic. Abrar says that he's found 70-year-old Czech carpets and tapestries, including some made in Bohemia that depict wealthy people picnicking or living in a pastoral setting.

"They had schools for carpet making," Abrar says, "even during communism."

Today, the country's textile-school graduates trickle in looking for jobs in his repair shop, which is the nucleus of his operation. Standing in the repair studio, it's easy to imagine how excited Abrar must have been as a child when visiting his grandfather during summer vacations. He and his siblings would go to various villages with their grandfather to commission carpet weavers, who would humor the children and teach them to weave.

Though he can weave a carpet very slowly, Abrar seems even more fascinated by the complexity and intricate process of repairs. Three rugs lay on three workstations; like a doctor, he is intimately acquainted with each. And each has a diagnosis: age, tread, moths.

"I wanted to become a doctor, and I would have liked to become a surgeon," Abrar says of his university days and young aspirations. Now, surrounded by his country and family heritage, he modestly shrugs: "So it didn't happen."

At least not in the way anyone expected.

Mindy Kay Bricker can be reached at realestate@praguepost.com"

RugNotes: Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.

2006-02-12T11:58:00.001-05:00

"Friday, August 06, 2004
Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.
The Australian: No carpeting for Arabian Nights hoax [August 07, 2004]: "No carpeting for Arabian Nights hoax
By Kate Legge
August 07, 2004
AUTHORITATIVE footnotes accompany Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.

According to Abidi, newly discovered 13th-century Persian scrolls he had translated have "shed new light on the real story behind the flying carpet of the Arabian Nights".

"Their existence was denied, their science suppressed, their manufacturers persecuted and any evidence about incidents involving them systematically erased," Abidi writes.

Abidi says Genghis Khan ordered his Mongol hordes to destroy these miraculous inventions, save for one, which he wanted buried with him to journey heavenward.

Literary journal Meanjin's chief sub-editor did not twig until he began checking the sources cited by Abidi, whose travelogues the magazine had published previously. On the trail of Australia's latest literary hoax, the sub-editor rang editor-in-chief Ian Brittain.

Brittain laughed and confessed that Abidi was an honourable trickster "taking readers for a ride", in the tradition of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, who created parallel worlds with mock footnotes, imaginary anecdotes and hypothetical texts.

Brittain's reference to a literary escapade in a brief foreword is the only clue that Abidi's claims are fabricated in the spirit of magical realism.

Born in Pakistan, Abidi, 36, studied engineering in London and works as an industry fund manager in Melbourne where he lives with his Australian wife and their child.

He spun his virtual history of flying carpets to explore the nature of truth and the idea that a myth has its origins in facts which can be unravelled if we suspend our disbelief.

Two Iranian websites have published his essay, prompting internet exchanges on the finer technical points of piloting carpets and how to turn and land them. Abidi bears no comparison with Norma Khouri, who allegedly sold a fictional story about honour killing as a personal memoir. But he does lead a double life, calculating investment risk by day and writing fiction at night. He has penned two novellas, which Australian agents and publishers initially rejected -- one saying the prose was too beautiful to have commercial prospects in this country.

His luck changed when an American talent scout read his work and showed it to an agent who represents Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago.

Abidi now has a contract with Penguin USA for Passarola Rising, a novella which, like his essay on flying carpets, probes the notion of truth.""

RugNotes: Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.

2006-02-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

RugNotes: Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.: "Friday, August 06, 2004
Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.
The Australian: No carpeting for Arabian Nights hoax [August 07, 2004]: "No carpeting for Arabian Nights hoax
By Kate Legge
August 07, 2004
AUTHORITATIVE footnotes accompany Azhar Abidi's scholarly essay on The Secret History of the Flying Carpet.

According to Abidi, newly discovered 13th-century Persian scrolls he had translated have "shed new light on the real story behind the flying carpet of the Arabian Nights".

"Their existence was denied, their science suppressed, their manufacturers persecuted and any evidence about incidents involving them systematically erased," Abidi writes.

Abidi says Genghis Khan ordered his Mongol hordes to destroy these miraculous inventions, save for one, which he wanted buried with him to journey heavenward.

Literary journal Meanjin's chief sub-editor did not twig until he began checking the sources cited by Abidi, whose travelogues the magazine had published previously. On the trail of Australia's latest literary hoax, the sub-editor rang editor-in-chief Ian Brittain.

Brittain laughed and confessed that Abidi was an honourable trickster "taking readers for a ride", in the tradition of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, who created parallel worlds with mock footnotes, imaginary anecdotes and hypothetical texts.

Brittain's reference to a literary escapade in a brief foreword is the only clue that Abidi's claims are fabricated in the spirit of magical realism.

Born in Pakistan, Abidi, 36, studied engineering in London and works as an industry fund manager in Melbourne where he lives with his Australian wife and their child.

He spun his virtual history of flying carpets to explore the nature of truth and the idea that a myth has its origins in facts which can be unravelled if we suspend our disbelief.

Two Iranian websites have published his essay, prompting internet exchanges on the finer technical points of piloting carpets and how to turn and land them. Abidi bears no comparison with Norma Khouri, who allegedly sold a fictional story about honour killing as a personal memoir. But he does lead a double life, calculating investment risk by day and writing fiction at night. He has penned two novellas, which Australian agents and publishers initially rejected -- one saying the prose was too beautiful to have commercial prospects in this country.

His luck changed when an American talent scout read his work and showed it to an agent who represents Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago.

Abidi now has a contract with Penguin USA for Passarola Rising, a novella which, like his essay on flying carpets, probes the notion of truth.""

RugNotes: Aaron found his heart's desire on the floor

2006-02-12T11:53:00.000-05:00
RugNotes: Aaron� found his heart�s desire on the floor: "Monday, October 04, 2004
Aaron’ found his heart’s desire on the floor

Aaron’ found his heart’s desire on the floor

Oriental rugs are owner’s third career – and his favorite.
By Linda Lipp
llipp@news-sentinel.com
Do what you’ll love and you’ll love what you do.
That’s what teacher turned stockbroker turned banker turned rug dealer Bob Anderson knows. The owner of Aaron’s Oriental Rug Gallery, 1217 Broadway, turned his love of collecting Oriental rugs into a successful business that has been largely immune from the economic woes that have plagued many northeastern Indiana businesses.

“What economic downturn?” he asks innocently from his perch upon a three-foot high stack of room-sized rugs. “The only slow time we had was right after Sept. 11.”

Anderson bought his first Oriental rug in 1973, after moving back to Fort Wayne from San Francisco and entering his third career, as a banker. Although he continued to work at Anthony Wayne Bank until the late 1980s, “my real passion in the evenings and on weekends was collecting Oriental rugs.” He finally opened a store, stocking it with his personal collection of about 200 rugs, “and I’ve never regretted it for a moment,” he said.

There is no Aaron at Aaron’s Oriental Rug Gallery. “There never was,” Anderson revealed. “Anderson’s Oriental Rugs just wasn’t very romantic, and Bob’s Oriental Rugs is even worse.”

Anderson liked the ring of the name Aaron, however, “and being first in the phone book, that never hurts,” he said.

Although it looks small from the street, the shop is large, stretching back a half-block deep. The extravagantly colored rugs are everywhere, piled four feet high on the floors, with a narrow aisle through the middle, and also hang on the walls. The lower level is reserved for new rugs, the upper level contains antique and collectible rugs.

Anderson isn’t sure exactly how many rugs he has in stock. “I know it’s in the thousands, I don’t think I want to know how many thousands,” he admitted.

All of the rugs are hand-picked by Anderson at major international shows in New York and Atlanta. The biggest producers of the handmade rugs are India, China, Pakistan and Nepal. Prices range from $200 to $2,500 for a 4-foot-by-6-foot rug. Room-sized rugs fall in the $2,000 to $20,000 range; and the unusually large, collectible “palace-sized” carpets can sell for as much as $75,000.

The quality and variety of rugs has improved since he’s been in business, Anderson said. Along with the traditional reds and blues, Oriental rugs now come in shades of green and gold and aubergine, among others. Contemporary geometric and asymmetrical designs are plentiful, along with the more traditional patterns. Long-wearing, stain resistant wool is still the standard, however, with a few rugs incorporating some silk threads as well.

Through the years, Anderson’s customers have come to rely on his taste as well as his expertise. A customer he’s worked with before might ask him to bring six or eight rugs over to test how they would look in a particular room. Others bring paint, wallpaper or furniture covering samples to the store, and then take home a rug on a trial basis to see how it will look.

Anderson trusts his customers as much as they trust him. “We’ve never even asked for a credit card if someone wants to take something home,” he said."

Beacon Journal | 02/11/2006 | Expert rug cleaner needed

2006-02-12T11:00:00.000-05:00
Beacon Journal | 02/11/2006 | Expert rug cleaner needed: "Expert rug cleaner needed

Q: I have a hand-tied wool rug that was quite expensive. In the last six months, it has taken on a strange odor. I have had it cleaned, laid it in the sun and sprayed it with a Febreze-type product, but nothing works. We have no pets. Do you have any suggestions?
-- Rhonda Simmons
La Quinta, Calif.
A: Hand-knotted rugs often are woven in less than sanitary conditions, so your rug may be harboring bacteria picked up during its construction, said Jim Hamed, president of Hamed Oriental Rugs in Bath Township. Usually rugs are washed before they're sold, but not always.
Another possibility is mold, particularly in the rug's cotton foundation, Hamed said. Although sunlight kills mold, he said the tightly packed wool may have prevented the sun from reaching the source of the problem.
In either case, Hamed said cleaning the rug will help only if it's done properly. Steam-cleaning isn't recommended for wool rugs, and it wouldn't solve a bacteria or mold problem. He recommended finding a specialist that will immerse your rug in a bath of water and special cleaning agents that won't destabilize the dyes. The cleaner might also use enzymes to feed on and eliminate the bacteria.
He suggested checking with the Oriental Rug Retailers of America (www.orrainc.com) to find a qualified cleaner in your area.

Have a question about home maintenance, decorating or gardening? Akron Beacon Journal home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge will find answers for the queries that are chosen to appear in the paper. To submit a question, call her at 330-996-3756, or send e-mail to mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com."

War's warp and weft / Afghan weavers incorporate battle scenes, World Trade Center attacks into tribal rugs

2006-02-12T09:17:00.000-05:00
War's warp and weft / Afghan weavers incorporate battle scenes, World Trade Center attacks into tribal rugs: "War's warp and weft
Afghan weavers incorporate battle scenes, World Trade Center attacks into tribal rugs
Angélica Pence, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

At first, the fringed rug seems much like any other woven Afghan textile.

Large birds -- some flying east, some west -- are woven into a pungent red background and framed by a floral border in emerald green, yellow and golden hues. But a closer look tells a very different story: The birds aren't birds at all, they're helicopters; and the figures making up the rug's edging are actually bullets.

Narche jangi, or so-called "war rugs," emerged in Afghanistan more than two decades ago during the Soviet occupation, when the Baluchi tribe began weaving the iconography of warfare -- Kalashnikov rifles, jets, helicopters and hand grenades -- into their textiles.

The rugs have since taken on the very modern imagery of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Much of the imagery is copied from television news reports and aerial propaganda leaflets dropped by the thousands across Afghanistan by U.S. armed forces. The most controversial depict jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center, or tiny black silhouettes plummeting from the smoking twin towers. And to the surprise of some, the divisive folk art has gained a considerable, almost cult-like following in North America.

"After 9/11, people's interest in war rugs went up dramatically," says Kevin Sudeith, who began selling the Soviet-era rugs in a New York flea market about three years before the two jetliners brought down the skyscrapers. "People suddenly knew a lot more about Afghanistan (and) they wanted the rugs as a way to remember (9/11). Many people buy two at a time -- one to use and the other to show to their children, as a way to talk about the event, much like a document."

Rugs have been made by hand for centuries along the Silk Road -- an ancient trade route that stretches between Europe and the Far East. The oldest known rug, called the "Pazyryk," is housed in the State Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is 2,500 years old. Nomadic or tribal rugs (along with bags, tents and other sheep's wool textiles) are made throughout Central Asia by numerous ethnic groups, including the Turkmen tribes. Often the only record of a tribe's history, the war tableaux are made chiefly on home looms by women and children, who have smaller, defter fingers than men.

Unlike ancient rugs, "these rugs are shocking because we recognize these motifs," says Angela Bailey-Sundahl, who recently bought a Taliban-era rug from www.warrug.com. "They're part of our everyday lives."

Less refined than the delicately woven Persian carpets that are often referred to as Oriental rugs, the Afghan variety is mostly made of hardy, hand- spun cotton or wool, entwined in geometric designs and tinted with vegetable dyes in deep, vivid hues. The most beautiful usually are credited to the Baluchi -- Sunni Muslims from the southwest region of Afghanistan -- and other hand weavers. Those with more rudimentary designs often come from weavers in refugee camps along the borders shared with Pakistan and Iran.

Emmett Eiland, owner of Emmett Eiland's Oriental Rug Co. in Berkeley, has traveled throughout Turkey, Iran, India, Pakistan, the Caucasus and Afghanistan researching the ancient trade.

"Oriental rug designs aren't just abstractions. What's interesting about war rugs in particular is that the weavers take scenes from everyday life and make them into rugs. Rug designs don't just come out of nowhere," says Eiland, a rug dealer since 1969 and author of "Oriental Rugs Today" (Berkeley Hills Books, $35).

Most war rugs coming out of Afghanistan today are shipped in bulk to distribution centers in New York, London and Hamburg, advertised everywhere from EBay to Soldier of Fortune magazine, and available in showrooms and at swap meets across the United States and Canada. Sudeith buys his supply via several sources, he says, including natives and some U.S. Special Forces agents stationed in the war-torn country.

Last year, Sudeith said his company and its online division sold 575 rugs, up from 150 in 2002, at $160 to $9,500. In the past six months, Bay Area residents bought more than 240 rugs from him. Of those, a good number were American women interested in the human rights of Afghan women.

"I wanted something very subtle, something woven by a woman," says Bailey- Sundahl, who teaches English as a second or foreign language in San Francisco and whose rug was made in the late 1990s. "For women in war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq, weaving is their only voice."

Like Bailey-Sundahl, Oakland resident Melissa Hahn became interested in the pictorial rugs after hearing about them on National Public Radio. She soon logged on to the site and bought a 13-year-old carpet for $450.

"My interest was from a cultural perspective," says Hahn, a licensing manager for www.levi.com and a folk art collector. "I imagined an uneducated weaver looking up at the sky, seeing these bombers above their city, turning around weaving (the sights) into a rug."

Among the first rugs made after the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were those that portrayed the 2001 bombing of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Some of the more recent styles come from Ghazni, between Kabul and Kandahar. These tend to have a thicker pile than the more prevalent Kazar rugs.

One such carpet recently for sale for $1,250 on www.warrug.com seemed to pay tribute to U.S. troops -- depicting an ATV and tank roving across a desert floor, while a U.S. predator drone, F16 fighter jets and a Blackhawk helicopter flew overhead. Colorful slogans scattered throughout the 4-by-4- foot rug declared the "War Against Terror," "Afghans Liberated From Terrorists, " "FDNY" and "WTC."

Hahn and Bailey-Sundahl opted against buying post-Sept. 11 versions.

"I didn't want anything mass-marketed," says Bailey-Sundahl, whose Taliban rug contains opium poppies inside hand grenades. "I wanted something with more freedom of imagination."

An estimated 4 million refugees fled Afghanistan to neighboring Iran and Pakistan during the decade-long Soviet-Afghan war, which began in 1979. Some longtime rug dealers and textile historians argue that what began during those times as folk art born of a people's suffering has since become a product created by poverty-stricken craftspeople who are less interested in making a political statement than a product that will sell to foreigners.

"They're no longer a message in a bottle," says Richard Habib, owner of Alexander's Decorative Rugs in San Francisco. With the Soviet-era rugs "you had to look at a puzzle and discover the message -- messages coming from weavers. But they started becoming very obvious after 9/11."

It takes between two and six weeks to weave a typical 4-by-6-foot war rug, which is secured by a wool-and-cotton foundation and 60 to 100 knots per square inch. Ardabil rugs from Iran, in contrast, are customarily made of 100 percent worsted wool and tied with 150 to 200 knots per square inch.

Habib, who deals in high-end Oriental, Persian and European antique rugs and tapestries, and contemporary Tibetan and Romanian rugs among others, says that as demand grows for the Sept. 11 war rugs, so does the prevalence of lesser quality fabrics and dyes, including synthetic neons, that are used to make them.

"If a war rug appeals to somebody, they should buy it," says Habib, a rug dealer for the past quarter century. "But they should know that they're not collectible. There's always going to be a limited audience for them."

Tony Abrahim, a native of Afghanistan, and co-founder and owner of IMG Home in SoMa, agrees and, like Habib, refuses to sell the post-Sept. 11 style of war rugs -- particularly those depicting the Twin Towers collapsing.

"I love America and these rugs, they are disturbing to me," says Abrahim, who fled his native Kabul during political unrest in the early 1970s when 16 members of his family were killed. "Yes, put guns and tanks on the rug. But you don't put blood on the rug."

Sudeith, who first caught sight of a war rug in 1996 at the New York dinner party of a wealthy Italian businessman, readily allows that the latest incarnations aren't for everyone. While the Soviet-era war rugs are of a higher quality, rarer and worth more money, that may change, he says, as those inspired by the day-to-day scenes of the U.S. occupation age with time.

"These war rugs are traditional folk art," Sudeith says. "They're a means of expression and in many regard (a weaver's) sole voice. And just like Persian rugs from Iran, they are woven to sell."

Resources
War rugs, www.warrug.com

Emmett Eiland's Oriental Rug Co. (includes information about "Oriental Rugs Today"), www.internetrugs.com

Alexander's Decorative Rugs, 2 Henry Adams St., Suite 330, San Francisco, www.alexandersrugs.com

IMG Home, www.shopimg.com

-- Angélica Pence

E-mail Angélica Pence at apence@sfchronicle.com.

Page HO - 1"

Obituary: Wade G. Shehady Sr. / Dealer in exotic carpets since 1947

2006-02-12T08:48:00.000-05:00
Obituary: Wade G. Shehady Sr. / Dealer in exotic carpets since 1947: "Obituary: Wade G. Shehady Sr. / Dealer in exotic carpets since 1947
Owned Shehady's Oriental Rugs in Aspinwall
Tuesday, April 12, 2005

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wade G. Shehady Sr., a local dealer of exotic rugs for 58 years, died Sunday at UPMC St. Margaret near Aspinwall. He was 77.

The owner of Shehady's Oriental Rugs in Aspinwall, Mr. Shehady collected tribal carpets from Turkey and the Caucasus Mountains, treating each as a piece of art that could be learned from. He knew so much about the rugs that when he saw a new one, all he needed was 30 seconds to identify the region where it originated and its age, according to his son, Wade Jr., who now runs the store his father and grandfather began in 1947.

Mr. Shehady demonstrated his knowledge once by placing and dating a rug from a block away, as it protruded from the end of a station wagon.

"That was how good his eye is," Wade Jr. said.

Mr. Shehady grew up in Jamestown, N.Y., and New Castle with 11 brothers and sisters. His father and mother owned a rug cleaning business near the University of Pittsburgh, and in 1947, Mr. Shehady and his father went into business together selling and restoring rugs. It was Mr. Shehady who looked for the exotic Oriental rugs and touted them to customers, landing the late Sen. John Heinz as an early buyer.

"He had such a love for these old rugs," his son said.

Wade Jr., now 57, took over the family business in 1990, but his father kept returning to the store, sometimes in a walker, close to the time of his death.

"It was his love," Wade Jr. said.

In addition to his son, Mr. Shehady is survived by his wife, Bessie; six children, Marilyn Nemchick, Pamela Smith, Janet Knight, Kim Volzer, Bessie Shehady and Philip Shehady; sisters Adele Gallade, Katherine Barcellino and Evelyn Ceransky; brothers Charles, Frederick, Thomas and Richard; 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Visitors will be received today from 1 to 9 p.m. at Savolskis-Wasik-Glenn Funeral Home, 3501 Main St., Munhall. The funeral is private.

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.)"

Feb 19 - Amir Nasseri and Persian Journal attack and insult Islam mentioning The great Carpet of BAHARESTAN

2006-02-11T09:17:00.000-05:00
Feb 19 - Commemoration of Battle of Qaddissiya - Our Real Ashura - Persian Journal Culture Archaeological History Art Archaeology cutlural history news & Iranian cutlure newspaper: "Culture Feb 10th, 2006 - 19:47:12
Page One > Culture

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feb 19 - Commemoration of Battle of Qaddissiya - Our Real Ashura
Feb 10, 2006
Amir Nasseri - Persian Journal

Let us remember history as it truly exists.
Let us remember February 19, our real day of mourning.

I am posting an article I found at Derafshe Kaviyani, followed in the end by a few words of my own. The original article is in quotes:

"Commemoration of Battle of Qadissiya - 1368 years later
By BKA

Derafsh Kavian
To all true Iranians:
Feb 19 is the commemoration day of the start of the battle of Qaddissiya.

Qadissiya battle started on Monday February 19, 636(A.D) and lasted for four(4) days.

On the flat plains near the Euphrates river in modern Iraq between Kufa and abu sukheir.

The Sassanian army under the command of Lt. General Rostam-e-farokzad(In Pahlavi- Eran- Sepah-bod) and the Arab army of caliph Omar under the command of Sa'd ibn Abi waqqas clashed.

Many Iranians fought bravely and died (more than 30,000 dead) in this battle trying to defend Iran from the nomadic Arabs attempting to convert Iranians to their Islamic religion.

At the end of the battle Lt. Gen Rostam was killed and the national flag (Darfash-e-Kavian) was captured by the Arab nomads.

This flag was taken to Caliph Omar who promptly removed all of the magnificent jewels set on it and then ordered it to be burned.

After the battle the Arabs went to the capital Ctesiphone, the glorious capital of Sasanian empire and the largest city in the world at that time, the city was invaded, sacked, and functionally destroyed by the armies of Islam.

The great Carpet of BAHARESTAN, woven with threads of gold and silver in the great arched hall of the palace of Ctesiphone was cut up by the Arab nomads and distributed as war booty.

Note:- this looting is still going on 1368 years later.

Gondi Shapour university and library were destroyed and its books were burned by the invaders. Most of Sasanian records and literary works were destroyed.

This day Feb 19 should be commemorated by all Iranians nationally and internationally.

This is our real national "Ashura" not the one the Mullahs force us to commemorate.

Instead of going on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Karbla we should all go to Qaddissiya to remind ourselves of the truth of what has happened to us over the past 1368 years.

It is our duty to inform the world as well as remind the Arab world itself of their crimes and barbaric behaviour against the people of Iran during this period.

Arabs should be reminded of their massacres of Iranians in the city of Estakher and other areas.

They should be reminded of their racist policies and their looting, pillaging, raping and abuse of Iran and its people for the 200 years of their rule.

We should do our utmost to ensure that it will never happen again.

In memory of the fallen heros of battles of Qadissyia and Nahavand.

"Payandeh Iran"

---

It is by forgetting our real history that we have allowed Islam to continue to strangle our country. Any Iranian who chooses to follow the bogus religion of the Arabic pirates of the desert must question whether he or she is true to Iran.

By forgetting or neglecting Iran's history we only bring shame to the memory of our forefathers and to ourselves. We bring shame to the great nation of Iran.

I will now leave you with a few verses from Persia's Poetic Past:

But Sassanian wealth and beauty caught the eye
Of a desert tribe, whose religion was a lie
Like desert snakes, they ruthlessly attacked
Until beautiful Ctesiphone was sacked

Rostam-e-Farokhzad, the brave and capable general
Fought till the end, though his wounds were several
At Qaddissiya, he came to Iran's defense
Alas, the Taazi army was too dense

With coercion and the sword
Islam was able to spread its word
A dark and sinister force was born
That to this day brings Iran much scorn

Some to India had to flee
Iran's destruction was unbearable to see
Parsees, they are called to this day
Ahura Mazda, with them will always stay

But Iranian roots are strong and hard to kill
Iran was freed again, with such a thrill
The Saffarids would answer the nation?s call
To make Arab tyranny shamefully fall

Don't mourn the Ashura, weep a Taazi's death
Hassan and Hossein were foreigners, who weakened Iran's breath
If mourn you must, then mourn, a national event
Like Gaugamela, or Qaddissiya, places of great lament

Amir Nasseri - Persian Journal"

BBC NEWS | Business | Iranian exporters fear sanctions Mr. Razi Miri Speaks Out

2006-02-09T20:57:00.000-05:00
BBC NEWS | Business | Iranian exporters fear sanctions: "She says Iran should have nuclear technology, but she also hopes the company can avoid going out of business.

These are worries shared by those working in Iran's most traditional export, Persian carpets, a sector that was also weighed down by US sanctions until recently.

Razi Miri who runs Miri Carpets employs 6,000 people in his export business in the bazaar.

He has pioneered the weaving of new carpets using old designs reviving traditional methods of dying and weaving, but the product is again too expensive for the local market.

Mr Miri, who has just returned from a carpet expo in Germany, says the problems in getting visas for some countries already make it difficult for him to do business, though it could get worse.

¿Exporting is something special," he says.

"We have to have good relations with other countries if we want to export."

Violent revolution

Mr Miri believes sanctions simply will not have the intended effect because exporters will always find a way round them.

Locals cannot afford Persian carpets

"Sanctions can be a very serious problem for exporters in our country," he says, adding that "it doesn't mean they can stop Iran 100% in terms of business; they can make problems for us but [they cannot stop us] completely".

The message from Iran's exporters is that sanctions that would curb Iran's non oil exports would not alter government policy, but it would remove the livelihood of ordinary Iranians.

Some abroad might say that would force the Iranian people to topple their government, but after one violent revolution a quarter of a century ago there is little appetite here for another."

George W. O'Bannon

2006-02-08T14:05:00.000-05:00
George W. O'Bannon: "George W. O'Bannon
George W. O'Bannon, director of Pitt's Office of International Student Services from 1968 to 1975, died of lymphoma Oct. 2, 2000, in Tucson, Ariz. He was 64.
In 1971, O'Bannon organized an exchange program between Pitt and Afghanistan's University of Kabul, with funding from the U.S. State Department.

An authority on oriental rugs, particularly those of Central Asian nomadic tribes, O'Bannon left the University to open O'Bannon Oriental Carpets in Pittsburgh. At about that same time, he published the first of several books he wrote or edited, "The Turkoman Carpet," a seminal work in its field.

O'Bannon and his family relocated to Harrisburg in 1979 and to Philadelphia in 1983. After the death of his wife, Helen, in 1988, O'Bannon concentrated on his career as a writer, guest curator and speaker on oriental rugs. He retired to Arizona in 1993.

He is survived by four sons and three daughters-in-law: Patrick and Pia Deinhardt of Philadelphia; Colin of Columbus, Ohio; Sean and Nancy of Boca Raton, Fla., and Casey and Susan of Philadelphia; two grandchildren; and his longtime companion, Arlene Cooper of New York City.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the George W. O'Bannon Memorial Fund, c/o Niloo Paydar, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 W. 38th St., Indianapolis, Ind. 45208-4196.n

Back to UTimes Home
©2000 University of Pittsburgh "

Person of the Week: Helen O'Bannon

2006-02-08T14:03:00.000-05:00
Person of the Week: Helen O'Bannon: "Helen O'Bannon
Week of May 7, 2001

Helen Bohen O'Bannon, Wellesley class of 1961, is a fine example of the women who fought to expand women's sphere in the 1970s.

O'Bannon did not start out to change the world. Born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, in 1939, Helen Bohen majored in economics at Wellesley. While getting a master's degree at Stanford, Bohen met and married George O'Bannon, a political science student. After gaining his master’s degree, George O'Bannon took a job in Washington, DC. Helen, a homemaker, worked part-time as an economic researcher and analyst for several government agencies. After two years as associate director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan, George O'Bannon moved his family to Pittsburgh. While he served as director of international student services at the University of Pittsburgh, Helen taught economics at Robert Morris College.

In 1972 O'Bannon learned that her mother was dying of cancer. "I realized," she later said, "that I was very much dependent upon George as a provider, that even though I had my own career it was very much second to what he was doing, and I realized that anything could happen to him at any time."

Trying to figure out how to be more self-sufficient, O'Bannon started looking for a career path and applied for securities jobs. She met unabashed discrimination, most notably at Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith. One of the questions on the entrance exam for their broker trainee program was "When you fight with your wife, which of you usually wins?" Another asked, "When you meet a woman, what interests you the most about her?" The choices included "her beauty" and "her intellect." O'Bannon chose "intellect," not the correct choice, "beauty." Her rejection letter said in part, "Dear Mr. O'Bannon: We're sorry we can't take more young men like you." Incensed at this shabby and patently discriminatory treatment of women, O'Bannon decided to sue, prompting a class-action law suit. Although Merrill Lynch successfully used delaying tactics for several years, in 1976 the courts decided in her favor. Merrill Lynch was assessed a judgment of nearly $4 million, most of it restitution to women who had been denied sales jobs and other positions. Perhaps more importantly, the decision prompted other brokerage firms to treat women more equitably.

While waiting for the court's decision, O'Bannon prepared an economics text, Money and Banking: Theory, Policy, and Institutions (Harper and Row, 1975). She took doctoral courses at the University of Pittsburgh School of Business. And in 1973 O'Bannon began a three-year term as an associate dean at the Carnegie Institute, the engineering school of Carnegie-Mellon University, where she was responsible for budget and financial affairs. She strove to make the university – and the engineering profession in general – more accessible to women.

In December 1975 O'Bannon was named a member of Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission. Although consumer and environmental groups had supported her appointment, O'Bannon said she did not feel she was an advocate for any one point of view. In addition to regulating gas, electric power, and telephone companies, the Public Utility Commission monitored over 4300 transportation companies.

A change in administration did not end O’Bannon’s public service. In 1979 O’Bannon became Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Public Welfare, responsible for the management of one of the state’s largest agencies. The Department of Public Welfare controlled income-maintenance and medical-assistance programs, institutional and community programs for the mentally ill and mentally retarded, social-service programs for children and families, and programs for the disabled. O’Bannon had a special sympathy for those under her care. When she was nine, the insurance company her father had worked for – at which he worked his way from office boy to vice president – declared bankruptcy. Since he did not find other steady employment, and her mother was confined to their home with multiple sclerosis, the family had lived from one Social Security check to the next.

After O'Bannon become Secretary of Public Welfare, she and her family moved to Harrisburg. George O'Bannon became a dealer in oriental rugs, a passion he had developed while they were in Afghanistan in the late 1960s. The O'Bannons practiced what they called a "syncopated internal-external parent system," in which one parent was most available to the children, and the other had an outside job. Categorizing her life as "a random walk through careers," Helen O'Bannon acknowledged that it would not have been possible without the support of her husband and friends.

In 1983 O’Bannon returned to academia, becoming vice president of the University of Pennsylvania, the first woman to hold this position. President Sheldon Hackney called her "a risk taker who had exceptional management skills." "Helen could analyze and grasp issues with astounding speed," he said. "She was never deterred by the challenges, stepping in where others fear to tread. On top of that, she had a wonderful sense of humor." She established the university’s first internal auditing system, a capital-budgeting process, and a facilities-management system.

Helen O‘Bannon remained a loyal Wellesley alumna. She received the Alumnae Achievement Award in 1980. And from 1982 to 1985 she served as President of the Alumnae Association.

O’Bannon was diagnosed with cancer shortly after she became vice president at the University of Pennsylvania. She continued to work until shortly before her death on October 19, 1988. She was survived by her husband, George, and her four sons -- Patrick, Colin, Casey and Sean. The Class of 1961 established a Wellesley scholarship fund in her honor.

"There's a piece of paper that I always carry around with me that defines success," Helen O'Bannon once said. "It's a quotation from Harry Emerson Fosdick. 'To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to endure the betrayal of false friends; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.'"

Written by Wilma Slaight"

News from Arkansas State University

2006-02-06T16:52:00.000-05:00
News from Arkansas State University: "Dr. Douglas Boyd to present public
lecture, sponsored by Heritage Studies

Feb. 6, 2006 -- A public lecture, “Digital Archives, Oral History and The Civil Rights Movement” will be presented by the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program Thursday, Feb. 9, at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

The public lecture will be given by Dr. Douglas A. Boyd, program manager for the Kentucky Oral History Commission, a program of the Kentucky Historical Society. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 4 p.m. in the ASU Museum.

Boyd holds a Ph.D. in folklore from Indiana University. He has served as the senior archivist for the oral history and folklife collections at the Kentucky Historical Society, where he managed an archive of over 8,000 interviews.

In addition to his public sector and academic experience, Boyd has a background in recording studio production, specializing in digital audio restoration. He has designed the Civil Rights portion of the Kentucky Oral History Project’s online digital media database. This provides easy internet access to more than 200 hours of audio content, 15 hours of video content, and at least 10,000 pages of electronic oral history transcriptions, all of which are full-text searchable.

Boyd’s interests are not limited to the technological applications of oral history, but also include the intellectual components. He has recently submitted, for publication, a completed book manuscript, which focuses on the dynamics between oral history and public memory. He has co-authored “The Stars of Ballymenone” with folklorist Henry Glassie to be published by Indiana University Press in the spring.

The lecture will be held in Room 157 of the ASU Museum.
"

Farewell to Fantasy / Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records

2006-02-05T20:25:00.000-05:00
Farewell to Fantasy / Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records: "Farewell to Fantasy
Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, December 4, 2004
Some of the greatest names in jazz and blues are now under new management.

Berkeley's Fantasy Inc., a 55-year-old record label that won fame and fortune recording Creedence Clearwater Revival and owns a catalog rich with jazz and soul icons, has been sold to Concord Records Inc., a Beverly Hills company started in the Bay Area.

The sales price was $83 million, according to Billboard magazine.

The combined company, to be called Concord Music Group Inc., owns the rights to a dream team of musicians.

Fantasy's extensive catalog includes Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, John Coltrane and the Modern Jazz Quartet, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie.

In the soul arena, its artists include Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, the Dramatics, the Staple Singers, and Albert King. Concord artists include Charlie Byrd, Rosemary Clooney, Herb Ellis, Stan Getz, Gene Harris, Tito Puente and Mel Torme.

Concord Music Group will operate out of both Berkeley and Beverly Hills. Although the landmark Fantasy Building at 10th and Parker Streets in Berkeley was not included in the sale, Concord will rent office space there and will use the Fantasy Recording Studios, according to Terri Hinte, Fantasy spokeswoman.

Hinte said there undoubtedly will be some workforce shifts, but not for a few months. Fantasy has 80 employees; Concord has about 40.

Fantasy's owners are Chairman Saul Zaentz, 83, an Oscar-winning film producer; President Ralph Kaffel; Al Bendich, vice president and legal counsel; and Frank Noonan, vice president of finance. All four have been with the company for decades. The latter three will stay with the new firm for several months as consultants. Zaentz has focused on his film work for almost 30 years and has not been involved in Fantasy's day-to-day operations.

Concord, which scored a platinum hit this year with Ray Charles' final recording, "Genius Loves Company" (in conjunction with Starbucks' Hear Music), is owned by Normal Lear's entertainment holding company, Act II Communications Holding LP. The 31-year-old label focuses on jazz, traditional pop and adult contemporary formats.

"I'm convinced my grown-up children are getting a good home," said San Francisco's Orrin Keepnews, 81, who oversaw Fantasy's jazz program in the 1970s after having sold it the catalog of Riverside Records, a company he ran in New York in the 1950s and 1960s.

"Concord, as far as I can see, is a rarity these days, a very vigorous and committed record label. I'll enjoy seeing what (they) can do to verify the continuing life and viability of a number of artists I worked with 40 years ago: Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner," said Keepnews, now a Grammy-winning independent record producer.

Fantasy's revenue comes from reissues in its stable. It does not sign new artists. According to Billboard, Fantasy's 2003 sales were $22 million, half of that in the United States, while Concord's revenue was $20 million, including $13 million in the United States.

Both Fantasy and Concord have deep roots in the Bay Area.

Fantasy Records was founded in 1949 in an alley off San Francisco's Market Street by hipster brothers Max and Sol Weiss. Its first artist "was an Oakland pianist named Dave Brubeck," according to the company's Web site. It went on to record Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Cal Tjader, Odetta, comic Lenny Bruce, and beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg.

Zaentz joined the company as a salesman in 1955. A dozen years later, he assembled a group of investors to buy the label, which was heavily concentrated on jazz recordings. According to published reports, the price was $325,000.

The single rock group then signed with Fantasy was an El Cerrito garage band called the Golliwogs. It was led by a Fantasy shipping clerk named John Fogerty, who had started it in junior high school. After rechristening themselves Creedence Clearwater Revival, the quartet recorded a string of gold and platinum records and million-selling singles, including "Suzie Q," "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising." In 1970, they outsold the Beatles.

Creedence was "a lightning strike," Zaentz told The Chronicle in 1970. "If we ever find another group that sells half as much, we'll be delirious."

With the money pouring in from Creedence, Fantasy expanded by steadily buying up outstanding independent jazz labels, including Prestige, Stax, Specialty, Milestone, Riverside and Takoma.

Concord Records grew out of the Concord Jazz Festival. Both are named after the Contra Costa County town where they originated, then a sleepy little suburb.

Local businessman Carl Jefferson, a successful Lincoln-Mercury dealer with a passion for jazz, started the Concord Summer Music Festival in 1969.

Guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass, who performed at an early festival, suggested to Jefferson he fund and produce a record. The Concord Jazz label was the result. Jefferson started the record company in 1973 in a former seafood restaurant next to his car dealership.

Jefferson, who died in 1995, was the motivating force behind construction of the Concord Pavilion (now The Chronicle Pavilion), the first large-scale outdoor concert venue of its kind in the West.

Jefferson's music philosophy was simple: He recorded what he liked. Under Jefferson's hand-picked successor, Glen Barros, who took over in 1995, Concord branched out from jazz, adding pop and blues artists, Latin jazz, salsa, Afro- Cuban and Brazilian music. It partnered with Chick Corea's Stretch Records and the smooth jazz label Peak Records, according to its Web site. In 2001, it started Playboy Jazz in conjunction with Hugh Hefner's Playboy Enterprises.

Concord has issued more than 1,000 albums. Its current roster of artists includes Karrin Allyson, Patti Austin, Peter Cincotti, Michael Feinstein, Nnenna Freelon, Robben Ford, Marian McPartland, Barry Manilow, Ozomatli, Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez and Curtis Stigers.

Act III, owned by Lear and Hal Gaba, bought Concord in 1999 and moved its corporate headquarters to Beverly Hills in 2002. Barros is still the president and chief executive officer, titles he will retain at the merged company, Concord Music Group.

The Concord-Fantasy deal was brokered by Tailwind Capital Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in New York and San Francisco.

The sale encompasses only Fantasy's music business. It does not affect Zaentz's film business, which has produced acclaimed adaptations of literary works such as "The English Patient" and "Amadeus" and also does post- production sound. Zaentz, who owned the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," was an executive producer on Peter Jackson's movie trilogy.

Creedence's Fogerty and Zaentz had a famous falling out. In 1985, Zaentz threatened to sue Fogerty for defamation of character after he wrote a song called "Zanz Kant Danz" with lyrics that said of the title character, "Watch him or he'll rob you blind."

In 1988, Fantasy sued Fogerty, claiming he'd plagiarized his own 1970 single "Run Through the Jungle," exclusively owned by Fantasy, to write his 1984 hit, "The Old Man Down the Road." A San Francisco jury ruled in favor of Fogerty.

More recently, Fogerty complained about Fantasy's selling his Vietnam War protest song "Fortunate Son" for use in Wrangler jean commercials, which stripped out his message about phony patriotism, using lines that sound like a paean to flag-waving.

Chronicle senior pop music critic Joel Selvin contributed to this story.E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com."

Farewell to Fantasy / Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records

2006-02-05T20:24:00.000-05:00
Farewell to Fantasy / Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records: "Farewell to Fantasy
Pioneer Berkeley label sold to Concord Records
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, December 4, 2004
Some of the greatest names in jazz and blues are now under new management.

Berkeley's Fantasy Inc., a 55-year-old record label that won fame and fortune recording Creedence Clearwater Revival and owns a catalog rich with jazz and soul icons, has been sold to Concord Records Inc., a Beverly Hills company started in the Bay Area.

The sales price was $83 million, according to Billboard magazine.

The combined company, to be called Concord Music Group Inc., owns the rights to a dream team of musicians.

Fantasy's extensive catalog includes Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, John Coltrane and the Modern Jazz Quartet, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie.

In the soul arena, its artists include Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, the Dramatics, the Staple Singers, and Albert King. Concord artists include Charlie Byrd, Rosemary Clooney, Herb Ellis, Stan Getz, Gene Harris, Tito Puente and Mel Torme.

Concord Music Group will operate out of both Berkeley and Beverly Hills. Although the landmark Fantasy Building at 10th and Parker Streets in Berkeley was not included in the sale, Concord will rent office space there and will use the Fantasy Recording Studios, according to Terri Hinte, Fantasy spokeswoman.

Hinte said there undoubtedly will be some workforce shifts, but not for a few months. Fantasy has 80 employees; Concord has about 40.

Fantasy's owners are Chairman Saul Zaentz, 83, an Oscar-winning film producer; President Ralph Kaffel; Al Bendich, vice president and legal counsel; and Frank Noonan, vice president of finance. All four have been with the company for decades. The latter three will stay with the new firm for several months as consultants. Zaentz has focused on his film work for almost 30 years and has not been involved in Fantasy's day-to-day operations.

Concord, which scored a platinum hit this year with Ray Charles' final recording, "Genius Loves Company" (in conjunction with Starbucks' Hear Music), is owned by Normal Lear's entertainment holding company, Act II Communications Holding LP. The 31-year-old label focuses on jazz, traditional pop and adult contemporary formats.

"I'm convinced my grown-up children are getting a good home," said San Francisco's Orrin Keepnews, 81, who oversaw Fantasy's jazz program in the 1970s after having sold it the catalog of Riverside Records, a company he ran in New York in the 1950s and 1960s.

"Concord, as far as I can see, is a rarity these days, a very vigorous and committed record label. I'll enjoy seeing what (they) can do to verify the continuing life and viability of a number of artists I worked with 40 years ago: Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner," said Keepnews, now a Grammy-winning independent record producer.

Fantasy's revenue comes from reissues in its stable. It does not sign new artists. According to Billboard, Fantasy's 2003 sales were $22 million, half of that in the United States, while Concord's revenue was $20 million, including $13 million in the United States.

Both Fantasy and Concord have deep roots in the Bay Area.

Fantasy Records was founded in 1949 in an alley off San Francisco's Market Street by hipster brothers Max and Sol Weiss. Its first artist "was an Oakland pianist named Dave Brubeck," according to the company's Web site. It went on to record Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Cal Tjader, Odetta, comic Lenny Bruce, and beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg.

Zaentz joined the company as a salesman in 1955. A dozen years later, he assembled a group of investors to buy the label, which was heavily concentrated on jazz recordings. According to published reports, the price was $325,000.

The single rock group then signed with Fantasy was an El Cerrito garage band called the Golliwogs. It was led by a Fantasy shipping clerk named John Fogerty, who had started it in junior high school. After rechristening themselves Creedence Clearwater Revival, the quartet recorded a string of gold and platinum records and million-selling singles, including "Suzie Q," "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising." In 1970, they outsold the Beatles.

Creedence was "a lightning strike," Zaentz told The Chronicle in 1970. "If we ever find another group that sells half as much, we'll be delirious."

With the money pouring in from Creedence, Fantasy expanded by steadily buying up outstanding independent jazz labels, including Prestige, Stax, Specialty, Milestone, Riverside and Takoma.

Concord Records grew out of the Concord Jazz Festival. Both are named after the Contra Costa County town where they originated, then a sleepy little suburb.

Local businessman Carl Jefferson, a successful Lincoln-Mercury dealer with a passion for jazz, started the Concord Summer Music Festival in 1969.

Guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass, who performed at an early festival, suggested to Jefferson he fund and produce a record. The Concord Jazz label was the result. Jefferson started the record company in 1973 in a former seafood restaurant next to his car dealership.

Jefferson, who died in 1995, was the motivating force behind construction of the Concord Pavilion (now The Chronicle Pavilion), the first large-scale outdoor concert venue of its kind in the West.

Jefferson's music philosophy was simple: He recorded what he liked. Under Jefferson's hand-picked successor, Glen Barros, who took over in 1995, Concord branched out from jazz, adding pop and blues artists, Latin jazz, salsa, Afro- Cuban and Brazilian music. It partnered with Chick Corea's Stretch Records and the smooth jazz label Peak Records, according to its Web site. In 2001, it started Playboy Jazz in conjunction with Hugh Hefner's Playboy Enterprises.

Concord has issued more than 1,000 albums. Its current roster of artists includes Karrin Allyson, Patti Austin, Peter Cincotti, Michael Feinstein, Nnenna Freelon, Robben Ford, Marian McPartland, Barry Manilow, Ozomatli, Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez and Curtis Stigers.

Act III, owned by Lear and Hal Gaba, bought Concord in 1999 and moved its corporate headquarters to Beverly Hills in 2002. Barros is still the president and chief executive officer, titles he will retain at the merged company, Concord Music Group.

The Concord-Fantasy deal was brokered by Tailwind Capital Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in New York and San Francisco.

The sale encompasses only Fantasy's music business. It does not affect Zaentz's film business, which has produced acclaimed adaptations of literary works such as "The English Patient" and "Amadeus" and also does post- production sound. Zaentz, who owned the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," was an executive producer on Peter Jackson's movie trilogy.

Creedence's Fogerty and Zaentz had a famous falling out. In 1985, Zaentz threatened to sue Fogerty for defamation of character after he wrote a song called "Zanz Kant Danz" with lyrics that said of the title character, "Watch him or he'll rob you blind."

In 1988, Fantasy sued Fogerty, claiming he'd plagiarized his own 1970 single "Run Through the Jungle," exclusively owned by Fantasy, to write his 1984 hit, "The Old Man Down the Road." A San Francisco jury ruled in favor of Fogerty.

More recently, Fogerty complained about Fantasy's selling his Vietnam War protest song "Fortunate Son" for use in Wrangler jean commercials, which stripped out his message about phony patriotism, using lines that sound like a paean to flag-waving.

Chronicle senior pop music critic Joel Selvin contributed to this story.E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com."

The Times Herald - News - 02/05/2006 - Campaign manager takes a Swann dive

2006-02-05T19:34:00.000-05:00
The Times Herald - News - 02/05/2006 - Campaign manager takes a Swann dive: "Campaign manager takes a Swann dive
By: MARGARET GIBBONS, Times Herald Staff02/05/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
It was bad enough when Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Scranton's now-ousted campaign manager, James Seif of Blue Bell, called Scranton rival Lynn Swann "the rich white guy in the race."

Advertisement

(Swann, a former Pittsburgh Steelers star and former television sports commentator, is black.)
But then Seif went on to compound his boneheadedness when he tried explaining what he meant. Seif said Swann is the insider candidate while Scranton is the "insurgent."
Just great.
When the public hears the word "insurgent" these days, they think of suicide bombers or those who plant roadside bombs.
Is it any wonder that Seif got tossed?"

Telegraph | Arts | Hockney and the secrets of the Old Masters

2006-02-05T16:14:00.000-05:00
Telegraph | Arts | Hockney and the secrets of the Old Masters: " Hockney and the secrets of the Old Masters
(Filed: 22/09/2001)

Has David Hockney made a discovery that will change the history of art for ever? He talks to Martin Gayford

IN 1999, there was a magnificent exhibition of Ingres portraits at the National Gallery in London. Among the many visitors was David Hockney, and he, along with everyone else, was struck by the extraordinary delicacy and precision of the portrait drawings on show by the French master. Unlike the public - and the art historians and critics - he started to ask himself specific practical questions about those miraculous little works on paper.

As someone who himself had drawn delicate and precise images of people in the tradition that stems from Ingres, he wanted to know how they were done. And the answers he came up with led to other questions and other answers, and finally to a theory, set out in his new book Secret Knowledge, that could revolutionise our understanding of art history.

What Hockney saw when he looked hard at those Ingres drawings were signs that Ingres had been using a piece of optical equipment called a camera lucida. That is, as he puts it, "a prism on a stick". "When you look through the prism from a certain point you can see the person in front of you and the paper below at the same time." In that way, as Hockney explains, a skilled artist could trace the image, "fast-forwarding" through the normal process of measuring the subject's head by eye.

Hockney suggests there are two ways of working from life. One is what used to go on in art schools in front of a model: looking, measuring, groping to find the right line. The second way is to work from an image that is already there - a photograph, a projected slide. Hockney argued that Ingres was working in the second way, using the camera lucida rapidly to establish the key proportions of his sitter's face - which he then worked over more slowly without the optical aid. Then, equally rapidly, he jotted down the lines of their clothes, which he could see apparently hovering above the paper. Thus the use of this tool would explain puzzling features of the Ingres drawings, including the speed at which Ingres had been able to turn them out, and the fact that some lines looked traced.

At the time there was some coverage of this theory. Hockney talked about it, and did a series of drawings using the same technique. Over the last couple of years there have been further hints of how his mind was working - a letter to The Telegraph, for example, suggesting that Constable used an optical aid in painting his studies of clouds. There was a predictable, dismissive response: Hockney was mad, he had a bee in his bonnet. To which the artist calmly replied when we recently spent an evening discussing the subject: "Well, I know something that they don't."

Now, with the publication of this book, he lets the rest of us in on the secret. And his contentions are pretty astounding - not merely that some artists used certain bags of tricks, but that, effectively, the photographic way of looking at the world, through optical equipment, pre-dates, by centuries, the invention of photography itself. "The spirit of photography is much older than its history," said Hockney. "That is what my assistant David Graves and I have discovered." It began, according to the Hockney thesis, not with the discovery in the early 19th century that optical images could be chemically fixed on glass and paper, but in the early 15th century. And it began in just the places where we conventionally consider the Renaissance to have started - in the Flanders of van Eyck and the Florence of Masaccio and Brunelleschi.

"We went to Florence to attend a conference on art and science," Hockney explained. "And we stood on the exact spot that Brunelleschi is supposed to have stood when according to Vasari he made one of the first perspective paintings - of the baptistry from the cathedral. And onto a panel the precise size of his panel, which is described, we projected the baptistry, perfectly though upside down, with a mirror that cost us £6." And from an image such as this, Brunelleschi could have created his painting.

This is the truly startling aspect of Hockney's thesis. It has often been suggested that some artists, Vermeer and Canaletto in particular, might have used optical equipment. But Hockney has rediscovered a simple technique by which artists could have done so from the late Middle Ages on. All that is required is a concave mirror, in everyday terms, a shaving mirror, which we know to have been something that could have been manufactured at the time. Its opposite, a convex mirror - which simply has the silvering on the other side of the glass - is frequently depicted hanging on the wall of early Netherlandish paintings such as Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait.

"It's very easy to do," Hockney went on. "We made experiments, and we found out how they used mirrors then. Nobody before has ever made these empirical tests - which is shocking in a way." He showed me videotapes of some of those experiments, in which extraordinarily beautiful, shimmering images appeared as if by magic in his Los Angeles studio.

The secret is that a concave mirror has the optical qualities of a lens. It will project an image onto a flat surface. And it will do so vividly if the thing to be projected is brightly illuminated, and the lens and the projection are in a darker space (Hockney experimented by painting a van Eyck-style portrait in this way of someone sitting outside a window).

These optical projections, as he calls them, are fascinating things. Their use would explain many aspects of paintings by masters as diverse as Holbein, Chardin, Caravaggio and Velazquez. The swirling satins, for example, of which 17th-century painters were so fond, are also exactly the kind of effect that optical projections pick out and enhance with hyper-real clarity. In his book he illustrates how the very simple, straightforward depiction of cloth by earlier artists such as Giotto and Pisanello was suddenly transformed into the complex, and technically difficult treatment of folds, patterns and textile texture in 16th- and 17th-century art.

The use of optical devices would explain the almost supernatural accuracy with which Holbein foreshortened the various items on the table in The Ambassadors. And Hockney has detected places where it looks as though artists such as Holbein and Lotto had to shift focus because part of, say, an oriental carpet had gone fuzzy.

Similar problems could explain why the figures in Caravaggio - as people noted at this year's Royal Academy exhibition - are often strangely grouped. Hockney argues that his paintings are, in effect, collages of optical projections done at different times. Small changes of focus or positioning might result in figures being too big, or oddly crammed together in too little space.

"Interestingly, another criticism of Caravaggio," says Hockney, "was that the sacred figures looked like ordinary people. But of course, they would have been ordinary people if he was using optics - just as a photographer would have to use ordinary people. That criticism was very similar to that made against a New Testament movie in the Fifties called The Road. Everybody wanted to know who the actor would be who would play Christ, and about his private life."

By 1600 Hockney believes that the technology had advanced sufficiently for lenses to be used instead of mirrors. Indeed, his theory suggests that the methods of some Old Masters were closer to those of 20th-century film and photographic media than might have been imagined. "I've become most interested in a painter called Cagnacci, whose work I used to walk past. Now I look at it and realise how close to a Hollywood studio his workshop must have been - you know, costumes, lighting, camera, action!"

But what Hockney is not saying is that in some way these Old Masters were cheating. "Well, people say, you shouldn't destroy the mystery. But how it's done is not the deepest mystery. Because in the end nobody knows how it's done - how art is made. It can't be explained. Optical devices are just tools. Understanding a tool doesn't explain the magic of creation. Nothing can." In fact, what he is suggesting is no more shocking than the use of photography by many later painters such as Sickert, Degas and Bacon.

Nor is he saying that all Old Masters used these techniques. In the book, he draws a diagram showing the interaction of the optical tradition with what he calls eye-balling. The argument is that many painters - Rubens, for example - did not use optical devices, but that even those who didn't were sometimes affected by the optical "look".

In fact, Hockney redraws most of Western art history, because his argument is also that the history of painting since the late 19th century is in part an attempt to escape the lens-eye view of the world. Cezanne, in particular, fought heroically to see the world in a different way - the way a two-eyed, mobile person sees it, rather than the way a fixed, single lens does. And this has been Hockney's own struggle as an artist. In the past he has worked in a near photographically naturalistic idiom, but also experimented with many other modes of representation. His final view is that the Western lens-based view of the world - which is now universally dominant thanks to the media of film and television - has become a trap.

"I'm coming round to the view that there's only a personal view of the world. There isn't anything else. What we call verisimilitude turns out to be the optical projection and its descendants, which is only one way of looking at the world." In other words, we have grown used to looking at the world through the eye of a camera, but there are other ways of seeing.

It's a truly radical view of the visual world. To put it bluntly, if Hockney is right, then a lot of art history, as it has been practised over the last century and more, is going to look a bit stupid.

There will be a tendency in some academic circles to dismiss his theories flatly. But then, art history as it has been practised up to now has been just that - a branch of history. It has derived from the study of documents, not from practical knowledge of what artists did in their studios (a murky subject about which there is little information).

That is Hockney's great strength. "Until now, art historians simply haven't known enough about how pre-photographic cameras and optical projections work. It's not in the nature of historians to make experiments. Scientists make experiments. Historians would say, we don't know Brunelleschi or van Eyck knew about how to do this - which I think is untenable."

Hockney has shown exactly how these optical tools could have been used - by using them himself. And he has turned up some written references, by Leonardo da Vinci, for example, and the 17th-century Dutch writer and patron Constantin Huygens, which seem to refer to the techniques he has rediscovered. "I think," he adds, "it's quite possible for knowledge to be lost."

None the less, his thesis lacks the smoking-gun evidence that some critics will require. On the other hand, a number of distinguished artists and art world figures have remarked to me that they believe Hockney is on to something. Far from being crazy, what he is saying makes lucid sense.

'Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters' by David Hockney is published by Thames & Hudson on Oct 15, price £35. It is available for £30 plus £1.99 postage through Telegraph Books Direct. To order please call 0870 155 7222. 'David Hockney - Secret Knowledge', an 'Omnibus' special, will be shown on BBC2 on Oct 13. Hockney's designs for Strauss's 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' can be seen at the Royal Opera House from Oct 9."

Telegraph | Arts | Optical allusions

2006-02-05T16:07:00.000-05:00
Telegraph | Arts | Optical allusions: "Optical allusions
(Filed: 29/07/2003)

David Hockney's startling claim about the use of mirror lenses by certain Old Masters has sparked an increasingly heated debate. Sebastian Smee reports on a new assault on the artist's controversial views

One of the National Gallery's most extraordinary paintings, Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Arnolfini and His Wife, is at the centre of an increasingly ugly debate between scientists over whether the Flemish artist employed optical projections to help him paint it.

Controversial perspective: David Hockney
The claim was originally made more than two years ago by the artist David Hockney, in a book called Secret Knowledge. The book, which was followed by a BBC documentary and a segment on CBS's 60 Minutes programme in the US, emerged from several years of keen observation and frenetic hypothesising, and prompted a flurry of articles, seminars, conferences and websites.

Of course, art historians had known for a long time that certain Old Masters did use optical devices. Vermeer almost certainly used a camera obscura; Canaletto used lenses; and Ingres carried a camera lucida with him when making his portrait drawings. But, until Hockney and his friend the physicist Charles Falco came along, no one had suggested that a concave mirror might have been used as a lens by the likes of van Eyck as early as the 1420s.

The claim drew dismissals from many art historians, who were unimpressed by Hockney's inability to find conclusive written evidence for the claim. (His explanation was that the knowledge was kept secret by artists, hence the title of his book.) But, since an important part of the claims comes down to optical evidence and to knowledge of the history of lenses, much of the work of rebutting the claims has fallen to experts in the field of optics. And here, in the supposedly cool and calm climes of science, things have been getting shockingly heated.

Leading the anti-Hockney charge has been David Stork, an academic at Stanford University and chief scientist at Ricoh Innovations, who has written several papers attempting to rebut aspects of the Hockney-Falco theory. The most recent (soon to appear in Optics and Photonics News, a journal that has also published Hockney's and Falco's arguments) addresses specifically van Eyck's painting of the Arnolfini wedding.

Stork's efforts have not endeared him to Hockney and Falco. Falco says his papers "are so superficially incorrect that they're useless. Everything he's written has either been wrong or irrelevant or misleading, or all three. After a while, life's just too short."

Stork's paper on the van Eyck hypothesis addresses two main points. In Secret Knowledge, Hockney pointed to the convex mirror depicted in the Arnolfini painting: "If you reverse the silvering, and then turn it around [to produce a concave mirror], that would be all the optical equipment you would need for the meticulous and natural-looking detail in the picture."

Stork's response, hingeing on a lot of impressive-looking formulae, was to calculate the focal length of the mirror depicted by van Eyck and compare it to an estimate of the focal length of the concave mirror he may have used to make his projection.

"These lengths differ by over eight standard deviations," Stork concludes triumphantly, "and thus we must reject the conjecture that the depicted mirror was so used."

Falco's impatient retort has been to say that Hockney was never saying van Eyck used the same mirror depicted in the painting; he was just demonstrating the simplicity of the mechanism. Hockney had also claimed that van Eyck's incredibly detailed-looking chandelier (which reveals no underdrawing) was in "perfect perspective", suggesting to Hockney and Falco the assistance of an optical projection.

Stork, therefore, performs various perspective analyses on the chandelier, basically by extending lines from the image to see if they meet at the horizon. Since they don't, he concludes that the chandelier is not in perfect perspective at all. He even gets a contemporary British painter, Nicholas Williams, to paint a (simpler) chandelier "by eye" alone, and, finding that it is in perfect perspective, concludes "that a skilful artist does not need projections to achieve excellent perspective".

On this point, Falco can barely contain his exasperation. He argues that an image of any complex, handmade chandelier would fail the perspective analyses performed by Stork for the simple reason that any slight imperfection in it would prevent Stork's extended lines from meeting at the horizon. Falco's own, more sophisticated (he says) tests show that indeed van Eyck's perspective is virtually perfect.

One could go on endlessly with such arguments and all their multiple rebuttals. But what becomes most fascinating is the tone of the debate.

"Stork is such a literal-minded person. I wish he would go away," said Falco, who claimed his opponent is simply using the high-profile nature of the debate to get himself known.

Stork, in turn, is highly critical of Falco's perceived arrogance, and irritated by the way the debate is being conducted. "We cannot ignore the immense public-relations advantage of Hockney," he adds. "If the same (or better justified) ideas were put forth by an obscure scholar or brilliant graduate student, no one would pay attention."

Hockney, like Falco, is dismissive of Stork ("I never took him seriously"). But he seems increasingly keen to lift himself above the melée.

"I don't want to get involved with the scientists too much. They tend not to grasp what it is actually about. What they're asking is, 'Is David Hockney right or wrong?', which is a ridiculous way of looking at it."

Hockney's argument about the use of optical devices was part of a wider thesis on photography and its relationship to art. Such questions have been at the centre of his own practice for several decades, as anyone who has seen his inventive photocollages or shifting perspective paintings will know.

Although Hockney claims pictures themselves are his historical documents, ultimately, he is not so interested in making them perform the empiricist function scientists require. Instead, his observations are constantly being fed back into his concerns as a practising artist.

None of which is to deny the significance of his claim about the early use of mirror lenses. The question is important because van Eyck has always represented something of a turning point in art history. He attained a degree of detailed naturalism that seemed a quantum leap ahead of what had preceded them.

The usual explanation for this leap invokes the invention of oil paint, as well as the application of newly discovered rules of perspective. So it's no surprise that Hockney's suggestion that van Eyck had used an optical device came as a shock.

But, when I asked him if his thesis would be demolished if his speculation about van Eyck proved wrong, Hockney said: "No, of course not. To see the optical projection is to use it. You don't need to have traced from it. So the question is when did they first see it? That's a perfectly good question. And what I'm saying is that around 1420 there was a change in painting which had to do with optics. How it happened I can't be sure, but there was."

Stork says he came to Hockney's theory with an open mind. He now disagrees with the claims about van Eyck, but, when asked whether he thought artists might have used optical devices more than we previously realised, his admission seemed to echo what most people secretly think: "This is an interesting question, worthy of further analysis."

For publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page please phone 44 (0) 207 538 7505 or email syndicat@telegraph.co.uk"

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Bini Malcolm Magical carpets

2006-02-04T22:54:00.000-05:00
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Education Tribune: "Magical carpets
Vimla Patil

FOR more than 40 years, Bini Malcolm has been fascinated by rug and carpet designs. She has travelled for decades through Central Asian and oriental countries to trace the origins of weaves and designs. "My husband John and I lived in Iran for five years, sharing our lives with tribals in hilly areas, deserts and lush forests of this exotic country. We travelled to innumerable Turkish villages, Samarkand, Bokhara, Kazakhstan, Turkemenistan and Kirgizistan. We studied museum pieces and photographed tribal villages and workshops, carpets and rugs in mosques, palaces and in the marketplace.

"Today, I have enough knowledge to call myself an oriental carpet scholar and researcher. I am also a collector of rugs. From Australia, I work as an international consultant on purchasing, maintaining and evaluating carpets and rugs. I have a great deal of data on the history of carpets and rugs and using this, I give lectures and presentations to interested groups all over the world."

Bini’s journeys have taken her into the heart of history. "The art of weaving carpets has been one of earliest accomplishments of oriental civilisations," she says, "Iran, Iraq, Baluchistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kazakstan, India, Pakistan – particularly Kashmir – have been known for thousands of years for famous carpets and rugs made by highly skilled craftspersons. One of the earliest carpets known to the modern world – more than 2500 years old – was discovered in the eastern region of the former USSR, where excavations included mummies, frozen animals and other objects wrapped in beautifully woven carpets. Though ice and rocky soil had ruined parts of it, the motifs, woven in pure wool dyed in vegetable dyes, are intact. This carpet is now in the British Museum for all to see. Some of the world’s most famous museums in the West have fabulous examples of carpets and rugs woven all over the world through the past millennia. I would say that the weaving of carpets and their diversity has been one of mankind’s highest achievements."

Bini classifies rugs and carpets into three categories. The most common among these are tribal rugs which are of diverse designs and are woven by tribes that live in the belt stretching from the Himalayas to the Central Asian mountain ranges. These are made with wool harvested by the tribes from their sheep, coloured with vegetable dyes and are chiefly used in homes and camps during winter months. Some carpet weaves and designs thus reappear on coats and wraps and women’s knee-length coats too. Tribal rugs – which are primitive in design – are made for family use, wedding presents or for covering camels and horses when their caravans move from place to place.

The second variety is called ‘village carpets’. They are woven during the winter months when tribes or craftspersons stay put in their homes. They are made in larger numbers and offered for sale in village or city markets.

The last variety is the ‘heirloom carpet’, woven in prime wool or silk and made by experts for the use of royalty or very rich people in most countries. This variety also includes the specially woven Mosque carpets in the favourite colour of the Prophet, namely green; and prayer rugs that are seen in famous mosques and durgahs.

The northern regions of India and Pakistan – mainly Kashmir – have a fabulous heritage of making carpets and rugs. In several centres in this region, the world’s finest carpets are woven and exported to the West. With the Central Asian countries losing their market share because of wars, fundamentalism and terrorism, India has gained and is probably the biggest producer of carpets and rugs in the world today. Indian and Pakistani carpets are fetching huge prices in the world markets because of the expert craftsmanship and world-class production values. The price and value of a carpet depends upon the quality of wool, vegetable dyes used and the maintenance requirements. Most experts advise that carpets should be washed and cleaned thoroughly at least twice a year.

"Carpet motifs are interesting," says Bini, "They usually reveal their heritage. In Central Asia, though the tribal weavers are Muslims, they traditionally use birds, animals and even human figures with floral shapes. With cross-cultural influences, the lotus, the swan, the tree of life and the paisley from India are found in carpets all over these regions. Most varieties have geometrical motifs. Other carpets reflect the vastness of deserts and barren mountain ranges. Interestingly, Kashmiri carpets mirror the fabulous Moghul garden concepts – the charbaug, the square garden with water pools, the hexagonal flower beds with paths dividing them – all these are used in a symmetrical manner in rugs and carpets. Some of the world’s best carpets have appreciated fabulously. One small rug that I bought in an Iranian village for `A350 in the 1970s has been evaluated at `A35000 today."

Bini gives credit to religious foundations, libraries and mosques in Central Asian countries for preserving the finest examples of carpets and rugs. "Many owners have given priceless heritage objects to them for safe-keeping during riots and bloody wars and they have looked after them with pride and care. The heritage they have saved has enriched the world’s artistic treasure fabulously.""

George Jevremovic's Magic carpet ride

2006-02-04T21:16:00.000-05:00
Magic carpet ride: "Magic carpet ride

Eils Lotozo
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Feb. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

PHILADELPHIA - George Jevremovic didn't set out to become the savior of the Oriental rug trade.

He wanted to be a writer until he followed his college girlfriend to her native Turkey in 1979, caught what he calls "the rug bug," and began scouring the country for Oriental rugs to sell to dealers and collectors.

At first, Jevremovic (pronounced Yev-REM-o-vitch), who traveled back and forth between Turkey and the United States, traded strictly in antiques. That's because new hand-woven rugs were sorry specimens. Their quality had been declining since the 1920s, when machine-spun yarn replaced handspun materials, and chemical dyes took the place of plant-based colors. By the time Jevremovic came on the scene, dealers could find few new rugs of quality. advertisement

Then, in 1981, he spied a small, luminously colored carpet in an Istanbul bazaar. "It stopped me dead in my tracks, and it wasn't an antique," he says.

The rug, he discovered, was a product of a Turkish government program, known by the acronym DOBAG, aimed at reviving traditional weaving practices. The carpet's color came from the efforts of a German chemist named Harald Bohmer. He'd been hired to re-create the long-lost recipes for natural dyes "whose rich hues once made Turkish rugs treasures."

In the bazaar, Jevremovic was gripped by an idea he'd never considered before: Perhaps it was possible to make new rugs that had the same qualities as old ones.

Over the last two decades, his Philadelphia company, Woven Legends, has turned that epiphany into an industry. The company now employs close to 10,000 people in Turkey.

At least 4,000 wash and hand-spin into yarn the 200 tons of raw wool the company uses each year. Between 4,000 and 5,000 hand-weavers work in studios Jevremovic and his business partner (and former wife) Neslihan have set up in 150 villages in Turkey. The women (in Turkish tradition, most weavers are young, unmarried females) produce the equivalent of 400 9-by-12 rugs each month.

Besides boosting the economy of rural Turkey, Woven Legends' lush designs and age-old techniques jump-started a worldwide renaissance for modern carpet weaving and helped bring new Oriental rugs into favor again.

"By going back to ancient standards, George helped to rebuild a whole industry," says James Opie, a rug expert and dealer in Portland, Ore.

"He's perfected the art of making new rugs that genuinely look like antiques and are in all respects equal to antiques," says Emmett Eiland, a Berkeley, Calif., rug dealer and author of the book "Oriental Rugs Today.

It was a hard-won achievement, one that has meant near constant travel for the Chestnut Hill resident, including trips to Agra, India, where the company employs 1,500 rugmakers, and to northern China, where Woven Legends hopes to replicate its Turkish operation. This, in between his trips to Turkey every six weeks.

There, he works on color recipes at the dyeing facility in Malatya and new designs with his team of 25 designers, and makes the rounds of the weaving studios, scattered in far-flung villages where telephones are few and e-mail doesn't exist.

"I am in a permanent state of jet lag," says the tall, handsome Jevremovic, 48, in a recent interview at his Philadelphia headquarters. Once an assembly plant for the Atwater Kent radio company, the 70,000-square-foot facility houses both the rug operation and the cavernous Material Culture store, another Jevremovic enterprise, which sells the rugs as well as furniture and decorative objects from around the world.

When the Jevremovics, who met as students at Alfred University in New York state and have an 18-year-old son, launched their venture in Turkey, no infrastructure for large-scale rugmaking existed. So they started from scratch, from persuading skeptical provincial governors to let them set up weaving studios in empty public buildings, to constructing looms big enough for the room-size rugs favored by Europeans and Americans.

They needed to find nomadic sheep herders to provide the raw wool and develop growers for plants such as indigo (used for blue dye) and madder root (for red) no longer being raised as commercial crops.

In some of the villages where weaving traditions had virtually died out, they taught the women how to make rugs. Since then, a corps of students has become teachers, who now supervise the studios. (The experienced weavers' elevated role permits them to work even though they are married.)

Two women sitting at a loom can take eight months to complete the typical rug. Paid by the knot, skilled weavers can earn as much as $200 a month. That might seem modest, but it's a substantial sum in a Turkish village, says Neslihan Jevremovic, 49, who grew up in Istanbul. A 9-by-12 Woven Legends rug can fetch $3,200 to $8,000.

Though child labor remains an issue in rug-producing countries such as Pakistan, India and Nepal, it does not exist in Turkey, where schooling is compulsory.

"I see what we've created as a gain for Turkish women," says Neslihan. "Now, they are not married off at 12 or 14 because they are no longer a mouth to feed."

Woven Legends has also stirred up the rug world with its designs. It offers 11 lines, each of which can include a dozen different rugs and range from the minimalist Aktulu, with its broad bands and blocks of bright color, to the elaborate Persian-tile-like patterns of its Euphrates series.

"Their rugs represent the history of Oriental rugs for the last 300 years," says interior designer Pamela Hughes, who has commissioned 500 custom rugs from Woven Legends for a luxury resort.

"I'm playing with some of their colors and designs with George's guidance," says Hughes, whose clients include the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sarasota and Philadelphia's Four Seasons Hotel. "He knows more about rugs than anyone I've ever met, and I never go against his judgment."

Among Woven Legends' best-known designs is its brisk-selling "fish rug," whose sea and stream creatures swim against a striking blue-green background. Like most of the company's designs, the original idea came from George Jevremovic and was tweaked by his design team, which creates graph-paper illustrations that become the patterns the weavers follow.

Another innovation is Woven Legends' Azeri Folklife carpets, which feature lively, whimsical scenes of village life. The rugs, produced throughout the 1990s, grew out of his frustration with how little historical information exists about the weavers of Oriental rugs, traditionally named for market towns.

Jevremovic sent a letter to his weavers inviting them to "make a picture of your life"; the result was one-of-a-kind carpets that offer glimpses of the weaver's lives: farming scenes, weddings, a house with a TV antenna. One weaver included a windmill seen on a postcard from an immigrant relative.

Most of Woven Legends' designs, though, are based on patterns Jevremovic finds in old rugs. The kaleidoscopic patterns of the newest line, the Sardis, was inspired by a 15th-century Mamluk rug housed in a museum in Vienna.

Such cross-cultural borrowings have always been a part of the tradition of rug weaving, Jevremovic says. Chinese motifs turn up in 14th-century carpets in central Anatolia, Spanish weavers adapted Turkish designs in the 13th century, and everyone copied the glorious patterns of the Persians.

"All of traditional design I see as sheet music," he says. "They were designs that were brilliant, and they deserve to be reinterpreted and brought back to life."

ONLINE: wovenlegends.com"

TIGHTER KNOT BETWEEN CARPET INDUSTRY AND RUGMARK

2006-02-02T12:46:00.000-05:00
Untitled Document: "TIGHTER KNOT BETWEEN CARPET INDUSTRY AND RUGMARK
REDUCES CHILD LABOR

Washington D.C.: Four rug companies recently committed to increased social standards and production transparency through membership in the nonprofit RUGMARK. A+ Designs, Amy Helfand, DuncanArts, and Mat the Basics have signed on to be licensees of RUGMARK, an inspection and certification program that verifies illegal child labor is not used and creates educational opportunities for children in the weaving communities of India, Nepal and Pakistan.

RUGMARK’s innovative monitoring system enables both importers and retailers to sell their hand-woven rugs, confident that the product’s integrity was not compromised by child exploitation. Last year, the sale of RUGMARK-certified carpets experienced 20% growth, indicating that the market is a viable mechanism for sustainable social change in South Asia. This most recent increase in collaboration between the carpet industry and RUGMARK underscores this growing trend.

When experienced artist Amy Helfand began to transition her abstract landscape collages into contemporary wool rugs, she explored RUGMARK out of her concern that children might be exploited during the weaving. “When I was looking for a manufacturer to translate my artwork into a rug, I contacted RUGMARK for a list of companies who had pledged not to use child labor,” she explains. “As I began to make more rugs, it only made sense to become a RUGMARK licensee so that my business would reflect a philosophy of integrity.”

A+ Designs owner Alicia Keshishian is among the growing list of RUGMARK licensees whose intent is to raise industry labor standards. Her passion for color and texture was inherited from her own family of accomplished artists. Keshishian was motivated to join RUGMARK as a way to give back to Nepali weaving families. “I deeply respect what skills and talent the weavers offer,” she states. “I want to further support the people that make my dream a reality.” This support is critically needed since reports from groups like UNICEF, the ILO and the U.S. Department of Labor indicate as many as 300,000 children currently work on South Asian rug looms.

Claire Duncan, of the husband and wife creative team DuncanArts, recently brought a love for contemporary design into the traditional media of hand-knotted Tibetan carpets. Having witnessed child labor while in India years ago, Duncan was sensitized to the issue and concerned about finding credible manufacturers. “The moment we learned of the existence of RUGMARK, we experienced a feeling of having come home.” Duncan not only feels relieved, but optimistic that her affiliation with RUGMARK will foster the growth of their young business.

Established companies have also looked to RUGMARK for the assurance that human rights guidelines have been implemented throughout their supply chain. Although fairly new to the U.S. market, Mat the Basics has been weaving handmade rugs in India for over 60 years. Mat the Basics rugs are known for clean lines and rich textures. The company has long been committed to workers rights in Indian weaving communities, including appropriating a just wage and vowing to be child labor-free. This pledge is reflected each time a RUGMARK-certified carpet is sold in their showroom as a portion of the proceeds goes directly toward sending former carpet children to RUGMARK-sponsored schools.

Advances in RUGMARK’s strategy both within the marketplace and weaving communities have allowed the organization to set its sights even higher. In early 2006, RUGMARK will launch a consumer education campaign with a focused effort to substantially increase the market share of RUGMARK certified rugs. With a growing alliance of designers and importers leading the way, RUGMARK believes eliminating illegal child labor in the carpet industry is within reach.

####

RUGMARK is a nonprofit organization working to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and offer educational opportunities to children in India, Nepal and Pakistan. The RUGMARK label offers the best assurance that no illegal child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug. To date, over 3,000 children have been freed from the looms and many more have been enrolled in one of 11 RUGMARK-sponsored schools throughout the region. More information is available at www.rugmark.org.

IMPORTER PROFILES

AMY HELFAND

An experienced and versatile artist, Amy Helfand recently began translating her abstract landscape-inspired collages into contemporary wool rugs. In 2004, motivated by an exhibition in Bronx’s Wave Hill, Helfand designed a limited-edition carpet based on the site plan of one of the gardens there. The overwhelming popularity of this piece and her desire to create “a work of art to walk on” initiated her entrance into the carpet industry. Since then, Helfand’s commitment to only the finest quality hand knotting, asymmetrical design and images both real and imagined is propelling her as a rising rug designer.

Another factor that distinguishes Helfand’s work is her integrity in both the artistic and production process. As one of RUGMARK’s designers and importers, she shares a deep concern about the use of child labor in the handmade rug industry. “As I began to make more rugs, it only made sense to become a RUGMARK licensee so that my business would reflect a philosophy of integrity.” www.amyhelfand.com

ALICIA KESHISHIAN, A+ DESIGNS

The granddaughter of a renowned Oriental rug authority, Alicia Keshishian has grown up with carpets as a part of her life. An accomplished artist for more than 25 years with an extensive knowledge of various crafts, she has recently returned to her family’s roots. Alicia custom designs each carpet with respect for the client’s specific wishes and sense of beauty.

In addition to a daring use of color, the thread that ties her work together is a profound gratitude to the expert weavers who make her vision a reality. Alicia’s recognition of the hardship of Nepali families and the exploitation of children has compelled her to action. “Enslaved labor strips everyone of the hope for a better global community.”

She became a RUGMARK licensee so as to ensure customers their purchase does not indirectly support child labor. Instead, her successful line of RUGMARK-certified rugs has enabled former child laborers to attend school and receive vocational training. www.acarpets.com

DUNCANARTS

DuncanArts grew out of the combined creative energy of a husband-wife team with backgrounds in architecture and the arts. Their love of design, color and texture recently found a new medium - hand-knotted Tibetan carpets. All of their work is done with 100% hand-spun Himalayan wool in a vast array of colors. A modern touch weaved into traditional design themes make their rugs incredibly versatile.

In addition to their external east meets west design, DuncanArts rugs have a subtle beauty that lies beneath the surface. As a licensee of RUGMARK, their products are contributing to the elimination of child labor and the education of boys and girls in South Asian weaving communities. “To us, having our designs brought to life by illegally exploited children would be totally antithetical to the creation of beauty. Also, we believe that the individuals who are drawn to our carpets want to be enriched, not diminished, by the experience of living and growing old with them.”

MAT THE BASICS

One of the most respected and established Oriental rug importers, Mat the Basics is known for high design coupled with abundant texture. Their collections include rich, harmonious colors and organic 100% pure new wool. They offer variety in terms of shapes, colors, and sizes thus enabling customers to satisfy their particular needs.

Since the carpets are made exclusively in India, Mat the Basics has long advocated on behalf of workers in the North Indian weaving communities. They are deeply committed to fostering the livelihood of these families and therefore became RUGMARK licensees in order to have the most transparent and trustworthy manufacturing process. www.mat-thebasics.com"

LancasterOnline.com: Obituaries - Glenn L. Redcay

2006-02-01T10:51:00.000-05:00
LancasterOnline.com: Obituaries: "Glenn L. Redcay

Published: Dec 13, 2005 EST

Glenn L. Redcay

Glenn L. Redcay, 58, of P.O. Box 343, Denver, died unexpectedly in his sleep Saturday, December 10, at the Black Horse Lodge and Suites, Denver.

Born in Lancaster, he was the son of Mary Eva (Andes) Redcay of Reinholds and the late John Redcay. He was the owner of Black Horse Lodge and Suites and Restaurant and also the Antique Showcase at the Black Horse, and was in the hospitality Business for 42 years.

A graduate of Cocalico High School in 1965 and Millersville University in 1969 with a degree in philosophy, he then taught English at Donegal High School for one year. He was a board member of Lancaster Co. PA Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau and was active for over 10 years, serving as chairman from 1979-1980. He was a member of Ephrata Chamber of Commerce & Antiques Capitol USA. An avid antique car collector, he enjoyed cross country road travel. He was the 10th generation in his family to have great interest in the PA Dutch culture.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by a daughter, Kim A. (Dale) Patrick of Irvine, CA; three grandchildren; and two brothers, Gary Redcay of Reinholds and Ed Redcay of NC. He will be sadly missed by his companion, Judy Falkiewicz of Ephrata.

Memorial service Thursday at 7:30 PM at the Roseboro Funeral Home, 533 Walnut St. Denver. There will be no viewing, however, the family will receive friends from 5-7 PM. In lieu of flowers the family requests Memorial contributions by made to the Ephrata Cancer Center for Breast Cancer Research, 460 N. Reading Rd., Ephrata, PA 17522.

Roseboro Funeral Home
6th & Walnut Sts.
Denver PA 17517"

Superstars: In Memoriam: Glenn Redcay

2006-02-01T10:46:00.000-05:00
Superstars: In Memoriam: Glenn Redcay: "In Memoriam: Glenn Redcay
Superstars, Scoop, Friday, December 16, 2005

Glenn L. Redcay, 58, owner of the Antique Showcase at the Black Horse in the Adamstown, Pennsylvania area, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Saturday, December 10, 2005.

LancasterOnline.com reported that Redcay was a board member of Lancaster Co. PA Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau and was active for over 10 years, serving as chairman from 1979-1980.

“He was a member of Ephrata Chamber of Commerce & Antiques Capitol USA. An avid antique car collector, he enjoyed cross country road travel. He was the 10th generation in his family to have great interest in the PA Dutch culture,” the site reported.

The site also reported that he is survived by a daughter, Kim A. (Dale) Patrick of Irvine, CA; three grandchildren; and two brothers, Gary Redcay of Reinholds and Ed Redcay of NC, and his mother.

The family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Ephrata Cancer Center for Breast Cancer Research, 460 N. Reading Rd., Ephrata, PA 17522."

FT.com / Iran Warns Baluch Rebels that "severe punishment awaits”

2006-01-30T19:49:00.000-05:00
FT.com / World / Middle East & Africa - Kidnapping brings ethnic mix into relief: "Kidnapping brings ethnic mix into relief
By Gareth Smyth in Tehran
Published: January 30 2006 22:55 | Last updated: January 30 2006 22:55

Iran’s deputy interior minister on Monday warned of “severe punishment” if Sunni Muslim rebels in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan harmed a soldier they captured last month.

Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr said militants had released seven of eight soldiers kidnapped last month, but had claimed one was dead. “We still lack any accurate information and we hope these hooligans have not made any attempt on his life. But if this is true, severe punishment awaits,” he said.

The deputy minister blamed a group led by “Abdul-Malek Rigi”. The name was similar to “Abdul-Malek Baluchi”, given to al-Arabiya television in July as the name of the leader of a Baluchi group that sent the station a videotape of the beheading of an Iranian security official.

The killing had the hallmarks of Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda, and al-Arabiya reported the group had demanded the release of jailed members and a ransom. Mr Zolqadr insisted on Monday that no “advantages” had been given to the kidnappers for releasing the seven soldiers.

The kidnappings have highlighted not just al-Qaeda’s apparent presence in Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the potential for wider unrest among Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities at a time when the country faces growing international pressure over its nuclear programme.

Half Iran’s 68m people are made up of Persians, while the remainder include Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Lurs and Azeris. While close to 90 per cent of the population are Shia Muslims, the Kurds and the Baluchis are mainly Sunni. Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis all allege religious bias and discrimination in employment and regional development.

The deputy-governor of Ahvaz, provincial capital of the mainly Arab south-west province of Khuzestan, yesterday said 50 arrests had been made after two bombs last week killed eight people on a day that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad was due to visit the city.

Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister, has accused Britain of training militants in neighbouring Iraq to carry out the blasts and giving them refuge in London. It was unclear if he was referring to the Democratic Solidarity party of Ahvaz, which is London-based. The bombings were claimed on websites in the name of the Arab Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz as part of a fight for independence.

A collection of ethnic-based parties opposed to Iran’s Islamic republic last year announced a Congress of Iranian Nationalities for a Federal Iran, advocating a “federal democratic” system of government based on “the separation of religion and state”.

Among the signatories, the Kurdistan Democratic party of Iran has replaced its earlier advocacy of limited autonomy following the example of Kurdish federalism in Iraq. The KDPI has been based in Kurdish-held northern Iraq since it was defeated by Iranian forces in the early 1980s, and remains illegal although it gave up its “armed struggle” in 1997.

But there is little uniformity among Iran’s ethnic minorities or the parties purporting to represent them.

In last year’s presidential election, Kurdish turnout was low. But a high turnout in Sistan-Baluchestan saw more than 50 per cent of voters back Mostafa Moein, the reformist candidate running on a platform of ethnic rights. Dr Moein was backed by Abdul-Hamid Esmaeel-Zehi, an influential Sunni cleric who has spoken out against both separatism and al-Qaeda.

Iran’s largest ethnic minority, the Azeris, number 15m-20m but are well integrated, influential in Tehran’s bazaar, and include Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.

Even the independence of Azerbaijan, the neighbouring former Soviet republic, in 1991 failed to stir significant unrest in Iran’s north-west, where Azeris predominate.

US dealings with Mahmud Ali Chehregani, a former parliamentary deputy who leads the Southern Azerbaijan National Awareness Movement, may have weakened any view in the US that Iran’s minorities could be harnessed to advance “regime change”. Mr Chehregani’s calls for Azeri protests have fallen flat."

Prof. Owen Hannaway Rug Collector Dead at 66 - baltimoresun.com

2006-01-28T16:28:00.000-05:00
Owen Hannaway, 66, Hopkins professor of science history - baltimoresun.com: "Owen Hannaway, 66, Hopkins professor of science history
By Jacques Kelly
Sun Reporter
Originally published January 28, 2006
Owen Hannaway, a Johns Hopkins University historian who focused on science in early modern Europe, died of complications from a stroke Jan. 21 at Keswick Multi-Care Center, where he had lived for three years. He had lived earlier in Guilford.
He was 66.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he was educated at St. Aloysius College, a Roman Catholic high school.

He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Glasgow in 1957 and his doctorate there eight years later. Concerned about the perils of handling explosive compounds that would be a part of working as a chemist, he decided to focus on the history of chemistry, family members said.

"He was a historian through and through," said his wife of 37 years, the former Caroline Moorhouse, a historian of medicine and past editor of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. "That's what he was meant to be. He had a strong visual sense and could look at an old woodcut, think about it and say, 'What's going on here?' He was very curious."

He moved to the U.S. in 1966 and after a year at the University of Wisconsin joined the Hopkins faculty as assistant professor in the history of science department. He was named a professor in 1977 and remained at the Homewood campus for the rest of his career.

"He had a beautiful Scottish accent. He was a brilliant lecturer and a riveting performer," said Dr. Sharon Kingsland, chairwoman of the department of history of science and technology.

He was the author of The Chemists and the Word: The Didactic Origins of Chemistry, a 1975 work that discusses chemistry's progress in Europe from the 16th century.

He also edited Observation, Experiment, and Hypothesis in Modern Physical Science, a 1985 volume of essays. He also wrote journal articles, book reviews, essay reviews, and dictionary articles.

Dr. Hannaway had a number of interests. He sang and played the piano as a young man. He collected Oriental rugs. He also traveled widely and enjoyed food and wine. He also pursued an interest in ornithology.

"Owen had a brilliance that is hard to describe. It shone through in the particular gleam of his eye when making a point. It was ... [an] ability to penetrate to a fascinating core of a problem," said Pamela Smith, one of his former students, who is now a Columbia University professor.

In a 1999 talk, Dr. Hannaway credited the Jesuit fathers at St. Aloysius "who taught the classics [and] had all gone to Oxford ... [and] the fierce intellectual competitiveness amongst the boys," as well as the school's "emphasis on rhetoric and public speaking."

Dr. Hannaway had been co-director of the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science at Hopkins. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives for the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation organized a 1999 symposium in his name. He also was awarded prizes by the History of Science Society and the American Chemical Society.

He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 1993 and after his recovery, he returned to teaching part time. He retired in 1999.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Evergreen House Theater, 4545 N. Charles Street.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two sisters, Christine Brown of Cockermouth, England, and Mary Gardner of Burlington, Canada, a Toronto suburb.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com"

FarsiNet News - Sobhe on the fluctuation of the Rial - February 1999

2006-01-28T10:43:00.000-05:00
FarsiNet News - News related to Iran, Iranians and Persians - February 1999: "Iran rial recovers, but economic worries remain

By Firouz Sedarat
TEHRAN, (Reuters) - The Iranian rial has recovered somewhat after recent plunges against hard currencies, but traders and economists remain concerned about the economic impact of the currency's fall.
On Tehran's illegal but active black market, dealers on Thursday were trading the rial at 8,100 to the dollar compared to about 8,700 rials per dollar three days ago. Traders said the rial improved after police rounded up dozens of street dealers since Tuesday. The currency is still 11 percent lower against the dollar compared to two weeks ago.

``I think currency speculators are betting on Iran running seriously out of hard currencies, with a view to the recently approved budget and its debates,'' said economist Fariborz Raisdana, referring to the heated parliament debates which exposed Iran's fragile financial situation. Many deputies expressed skepticism about forecast state revenues being realised due to low oil prices and predicted that the government would face another debilitating budget deficit like this year's shortfall of $6 billion.

The heavy deficit has forced the government to seek $3 billion in new loans from foreign creditors and to slash hard currency expenditures at home, forcing many state-run firms to turn to the black market for their hard cash needs.

Economists say fears of a possible flurry of price rises in the new year which starts on March 21, when fuel prices will be increased by up to 75 percent, had also prompted many ordinary Iranians to buy hard currencies as a hedge against inflation.

``Economically the concern is that the private sector seems to be sinking its liquidity into the black foreign exchange market again, instead of other relativlely more productive ventures, such as construction,'' Raisdana said.

Iran has had strict foreign exchange controls since 1995, when the government imposed an official rate of 3,000 rials to the dollar and banned free-market currency exchange.

The rules, adopted to halt a plunge of the rial and a capital flight after the United States announced sanctions against Iran, led to years of relative stability of the currency after police arrested scores of black market dealers. But the rial has lost 40 percent of its value against the dollar since early last year as a slump in oil prices hit the economy. Iran, the world's third largest oil exporter, depends on oil for about 80 percent of its hard currency income.

Khosrow Sobhe of the Iranian Carpet Exporters Association said the rial's frequent fluctuations were hurting exports. ``There is a daily confusion on prices among dealers because of the rial's fluctuations, and that does not help the prestige of Persian carpets,'' said Sobhe about the rugs which are Iran's second biggest hard cash earner after oil.

Sobhe said dealers were finding exports less profitable because of the large difference between the black market rate and the official rate of about 5,700 rials per dollar at which they are required by law to sell their hard currency earnings."

Iran International Magazine - Dr. Kai-Khosrow Sobhe

2006-01-28T10:37:00.000-05:00
Iran International Magazine - On Agenda: "January 2003 / No. 21

The Chamber Needs to Do Its Job

"The alleviation of many export and production inadequacies in the past years has been due to the direct and indirect efforts of ICCIM."
Dr. Kai-Khosrow Sobhe, member of the board of directors of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) believes that narrow-mindedness, suspicion and lack of trust of the private sector in Iran are the main reasons why its potentials have not so far been taken seriously and why the chamber is losing sight of its central role.

He added that ICCIM’s role in the expansion of foreign trade carries special weight and with slight alterations in its structure, the guidance of the private sector may come within the hands of this institution. The fact that the country's economy is in the hands of the government, the flaws and the need for awareness within the private sector, ambiguity of regulations, the out-dated system in use in the production sector plus unsteady and inconvenient political relations with other countries are among the problems facing our non-oil exports.

There has been a rise in the rate of imports as compared to that of exports. The high rate of consumption within the country has made imports of necessary goods more profitable than exports and competition in world markets. There was so much profit involved in imports that until a short time ago when there existed the multiple exchange rates, a specific group using various fronts would receive currency at very low rates and imported goods which were then sold at high black market rates in the country.

The alleviation of many export and production inadequacies in the past years has been due to the direct and indirect efforts of ICCIM, which is an advisory body that presents its points of view to the country’s three main government branches at regular intervals.

The electoral system within the organization is presently suffering and the lack of voters in the sessions held is due to various reasons, including cultural problems suffered by most Iranians who are basically unwilling to get for involved in group activities.

The disregard by some members of the results of the votes and the persons chosen and their unawareness of the times of elections stem from weak communication or overload of outside duties. This has naturally led to the reduction in the number of voters in chamber elections. The chamber’s budget is obtained from membership fees and the taxes obtained from members. ICCIM normally has trouble in collecting the mentioned taxes. Each year’s budget is usually approved by the representatives of the chamber, which means it is approved by the principal governing body of the institution.

The main services rendered to the members of ICCIM and clients include the introduction of the members and cardholders to various embassies for visas, making of travel preparations, organizing of commercial exhibitions and formation of joint chambers of commerce with other countries, presentation of statistics and information and bringing together foreign and Iranian businessmen and women."

Persian rugs shine at DOMOTEX 2006

2006-01-27T19:03:00.000-05:00
IranMania.com
Monday, January 23, 2006 - ©2005

LONDON, January 23 (IranMania) - Persian rugs have reportedly sold quite well in DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006, ILNA said.
DOMOTEX 2006, which was held in Germany last week, is an international trade show and a springboard to the fast-growing Asian markets, offering opportunities to access the Middle East market.
According to Commerce Ministry, Persian rug sales at the exhibition managed to compensate for the poor international sales of the product last year.
Iranian carpet companies were represented with 50 stalls and visitors reportedly took great interest in Persian rugs, world-famous for their unique traditional designs and natural colors.
The organizers of DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006 announced the winners of the Carpet Design Awards (CDA) on January 15.
For Best Traditional Innovation, Miri Iranian Knots of Iran won the top prize of 1,000 euros.
The judges were impressed with the care this company takes to ensure that each carpet is unique with its own special features, according to the official website of DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006.
Some $197.1 million worth of Persian rugs was exported during March-September 2005.
Hand-woven carpet exports to Germany and the United States accounted for some 63 percent of the amount in the period during which $45.5 million worth of carpets was exported to Germany, $39.6 million to the US, $17.9 million to the United Arab Emirates, $16.7 million to Japan and $15 million to Italy.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe
Sobco International Ltd.
11569 Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064
www.rugidea.com info@rugidea.com

Alan Taghdisi Brings His World Class Rug Collection To Houston. Oriental Rug Bazaar's New High End Rug Showroom Offers Museum Quality Rugs

2006-01-27T18:56:00.000-05:00
Alan Taghdisi Brings His World Class Rug Collection To Houston. Oriental Rug Bazaar's New High End Rug Showroom Offers Museum Quality Rugs: " Alan Taghdisi Brings His World Class Rug Collection To Houston. Oriental Rug Bazaar's New High End Rug Showroom Offers Museum Quality Rugs

Alan Taghdisi of Oriental Rug Bazaar (5525 Westheimer) has brought one of the countries premiere antique rug collections to Houston Texas.

Houston, TX (PRWEB) January 27, 2006 -- Alan Taghdisi of Oriental Rug Bazaar (5525 Westheimer) has brought one of the countries premiere antique rug collections to Houston Texas.

“There is a great demand for specialty antique rugs in our region,” said Oriental Rug Bazaar owner Alan Taghdisi. “I’ve taken my personal rug collection and combined it with the premier pieces from a long time European collector to create the most exclusive antique rug collection available.”

This multi-million dollar collection is currently being displayed and sold at Alan Taghdisi's showrooms in Houston, New York, and Los Angeles. Mr. Taghdisi’s Houston showroom is located inside the 30,000 square foot Oriental Rug Bazaar building.

“We have created a special environment to cater to the discerning needs of the high end rug collector. Quality and over-service will be our hallmark,” Taghdisi added.

The Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection consists of the following:

Antique oushaks, serapi, Tabriz haji jalili, lavar, kirmanshah, ferahan, French aubussons, French tapestries, Mohtasham kashans wool and silk, Turkish hereke, and Agra all over 100 years old. Sizes range from 2' x 3' to 18’ x 26’; all in emaculate condition.

It is widely believed by the leading auction houses and prominent antique collectors that the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection is the finest and largest for a single collector in the world.

For more information on the Alan Taghdisi Antique Collection or to make an appointment call 713 960 9070 or visit www.alantaghdisirugs.com"

The Daily Northwestern - Event highlights Afghan women�s rugged way of life

2006-01-27T13:17:00.000-05:00
The Daily Northwestern - Event highlights Afghan women�s rugged way of life: "Event highlights Afghan women’s rugged way of life
Company’s goal is to benefit women in Afghanistan by selling their homemade rugs
by Elizabeth Gibson

January 20, 2006

Like most people browsing a rug store, the guests at the Minasian Rug Company on Thursday night felt the texture, considered colors, noted the tightness of the weave and took measurements of the cloth.

They also looked at the portraits and stories off to the side, stories about the impoverished Afghan women whose families spent up to a year at a loom weaving the rugs.

The nonprofit Arzu, or “hope” in Dari, opened its first gallery of Afghan rugs at Minasian, 1244 Chicago Ave., Thursday with a special exhibit and guest speaker Shamim Jawad, the wife of the Afghan ambassador to the United States.

Arzu looks for Afghan weavers, many of whom went into debt trying to buy supplies for their craft and dealing with salesmen. The 2-year-old organization then provides them with quality supplies and sellable designs to increase the quality of their products.

The 160 families employed by Arzu each have their own story. Although the $100 debt of Aghul Durdi, a widow with two grown children, might at first seem insignificant, her estimated income of $300 to $400 a year puts it in context.

The first Arzu rug came from a woman who spent the money she earned on a head covering because she had none. Without it, she had not been allowed to leave her home.

“I get inspired every day by these women,” said Connie Duckworth, Arzu founder and president.

In addition to a 50 percent cash bonus when the rug is finished, the weavers receive transportation to free medical care provided by Save the Children. The women sign a contract obligating all the children in the household to attend school and all the women to go to literacy classes.

Arzu receives about 30 to 50 rugs a month straight from Afghan looms.

The event sold about 20 of the 94 rugs there. The tightness of the weave, style of rug and size determined prices, which ranged from the $383, 2-by-2.8 foot piece called Inspiration 4 to the $11,623, 10-by-10.8-foot Trust 3, a large red Persian-patterned rug.

Rug collector Jerry Silverman said the pieces are not of collectable quality but still good and something he would put in his home.

Arzu’s rugs are copies of traditional designs. Duckworth’s favorite rug is an imitation of the oldest known rug, which carbon dates at 500 B.C. The rug depicts animals and soldiers against a rich red background.

“It’s very well-made and very beautiful,” said Robert Lansing who purchased Chains of Hope for $2,613. “Then you hear the story of the empowerment of women and it rips your heart.”

The rugs hung against the pale yellow walls, with one of the rugs for sale resting beneath guests’ feet. The owners of Minasian consulted for Arzu, donated the space and will be the exclusive sellers of the rugs. Its location takes advantage of a large number of customers from Chicago and the North Shore, said Arzu’s Vice President of U.S. Operations Alyssa Rome.

Previously, Arzu only sold rugs online.

“This is a wonderful forum for us to talk with the clients,” Arzu design consultant Colleen Graham said. “People want to touch and feel the rug.”

About 230 people, mostly philanthropists, rug collectors, designers and their friends RSVPed for the event, although Arzu staff said more probably came.

Duckworth invited Jawad as a fellow member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council created by President Bush and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.

Jawad emphasized education, particularly of women, as a priority for improving conditions in Afghanistan. She said 69 percent of urban and 90 percent of rural Afghan women are illiterate.

“For ages the rug was part of the culture and the only means for rural women to get an income,” Jawad said. “This is what they’re really good at. It’s what they do.”

Reach Elizabeth Gibson at

e-gibson@northwestern.edu."

Iran News - Miri wins Carpet Design Awards at DOMOTEX 2006

2006-01-23T08:20:00.000-05:00
Iran News - Persian rugs shine at DOMOTEX 2006: "Persian rugs shine at DOMOTEX 2006

Monday, January 23, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, January 23 (IranMania) - Persian rugs have reportedly sold quite well in DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006, ILNA said.

DOMOTEX 2006, which was held in Germany last week, is an international trade show and a springboard to the fast-growing Asian markets, offering opportunities to access the Middle East market.

According to Commerce Ministry, Persian rug sales at the exhibition managed to compensate for the poor international sales of the product last year.

Iranian carpet companies were represented with 50 stalls and visitors reportedly took great interest in Persian rugs, world-famous for their unique traditional designs and natural colors.

The organizers of DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006 announced the winners of the Carpet Design Awards (CDA) on January 15.

For Best Traditional Innovation, Miri Iranian Knots of Iran won the top prize of 1,000 euros.

The judges were impressed with the care this company takes to ensure that each carpet is unique with its own special features, according to the official website of DOMOTEX HANNOVER 2006.

Some $197.1 million worth of Persian rugs was exported during March-September 2005.

Hand-woven carpet exports to Germany and the United States accounted for some 63 percent of the amount in the period during which $45.5 million worth of carpets was exported to Germany, $39.6 million to the US, $17.9 million to the United Arab Emirates, $16.7 million to Japan and $15 million to Italy."

Iran News - Museum thefts in Iran cause alarm

2006-01-18T10:14:00.000-05:00
Iran News - Museum thefts in Iran cause alarm: "Museum thefts in Iran cause alarm

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, January 18 (IranMania) - Systematic thefts of antiquities from Iranian museums and their sale to Western museums are causing deep concern, the Persian daily Jaam-e Jam reported.

The daily noted that a national campaign should be organized against the network formed by burglars of artifacts from Iranian museums and the justice system is expected to take firm action against those attempting to trade ?the nation?s historical identity by stealing antiquities and exchanging them with money?.

?Three years ago, artifacts of Iran Ancient Museum, including golden plates with inscriptions, were stolen and thieves stole a very precious painting from Golestan Palace as well as a Safavid carpet from Iran Carpet Museum. The theft of antiquities continued when an invaluable handwritten copy of holy Qur?an attributed to Imam Ali (AS) was reported from a museum of Shiraz,? it said.

Police investigations on thefts from Iran Ancient Museum indicated that professional dealers of artifacts are making criminal efforts to steal antiquities. They revealed new dimensions of the theft following its legal action against the burglary of eight artifacts stolen from Iran Ancient Museum. It also lent weight to the theory that there was collusion between some staffers of the museums and the thieves.

Police also revealed that in some cases the original artifacts were changed with a fake. They pointed out that the thieves have been identified as regular visitors of the museums.

The suspicion against certain staffers of museums increased after the statue of a goat unearthed from the Burnt City was found from the warehouse of a gallery after a police raid.

?The statue of the goat has been returned to the museum,? the daily said.

Jaam-e Jam further said that following the latest case of theft from Iran Ancient Museum, people from all walks of life contacted the newspaper and urged Tehran?s prosecutor to bring to justice all those found guilty.

Prosecutor of Tehran?s Criminal Court Fakhreddin Jafarzadeh said that a preliminary report indicated that the thefts from museums have other dimensions that require further investigations."

Book Review: More Bull than Godess - Puff Piece on a Puff Piece

2006-01-17T11:00:00.000-05:00
Political Affairs Magazine - Book Review: Catalhoyuk � The Goddess and the Bull: "Book Review: Catalhoyuk – The Goddess and the Bull
By Thomas Riggins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

click here for related stories: Science 1-17-06, 8:50 am

Book Review: Catalhoyuk – The Goddess and the Bull: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization, by Michael Balter, New York, Free Press, 2005.

A new book on archaeology makes the claim that "our understanding of our own origins was changed forever" by a very significant dig in Turkey. Michael Balter, author of "The Goddess and the Bull: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization," is a correspondent for the journal "Science." His book is a semi-official "biography" of an archaeological dig in Turkey. But is more than just that. It is three books in one – a history of the dig and the personalities of the archaeologists and other scientists who have conducted it, a history of archaeological theory over the last forty or so years, and finally, not least, a discussion of what the dig tells us about our past.

As for our past, there were extravagant claims made for some of the finds first reported from the site such as evidence for "goddess" worship, a society dominated by women (at least in the cult), the early domestication of certain food species, etc., upon which later investigations have cast doubts.

Nevertheless Balter thinks this dig changed our ideas about our origins. Why? There are several reasons. First, the site is basically an undisturbed Neolithic village that produced, for the first time in this era, representational paintings suggestive of a rich symbolic life associated with an early prehistoric agricultural community. Second, unlike most Neolithic sites, where only material artifacts are found, this site provides a glimpse of the symbolic world of our ancestors as they were, so to say, teetering on the brink of civilization. Third, it is thought that this representational art has religious significance and may have been the motivation for these people all living together at one place. So, this site has changed our views because it is the first to stress not simply the economic side of Neolithic life, but the symbolic, religious and psychological sides as well.

As for the theory part, I am primarily interested in it because, after reading it, I came to the conclusion that there is a lot of confusion about what can and cannot be accomplished by archaeology and about what a sound archaeological method should be and what role Marxist theory can play with respect to it. But, first things first.

Catalhoyuk ("Chah-tahl-hew-yook") is the name of a site on the Konya Plain in south-central Turkey dating from the Neolithic Period in the Near East. Its estimated date is around 7500 BC (+ or -). It may be considered an early "city" ("village" may be a better word) – it is at least a large settlement. It had both agriculture and trade, houses of mud brick, plastered "shrines" or "temples" and fortifications made out of mud brick. House and "shrine" walls were decorated with paintings, mounted bull heads (covered in plaster), and there were many female ("mother goddess") figurines found. The dead were buried under the floors of the houses. I put quotation marks around the words "shrines," "temples" and "mother goddess" because these may be modern conceptions foisted on to the artifacts found at the site.

The names of two archaeologists are associated with the finds at Catalhoyuk (although dozens and dozens of scientists and others worked there under their direction and the discoveries are really a collective effort.)

The first name is that of British archaeologist James Mellaart who was the first to dig at the site. He completed four seasons of digging beginning in 1961. He was forced to quit after the fourth season due to some improprieties regarding alleged purloined artifacts ("The Dorack Affair") which he may or may not have been involved with. His colleagues tend to give him the benefit of the doubt and his professional career made it seem highly unlikely that he was. At any rate, he was tossed out of Turkey and the site was shut down and lay fallow for thirty years.

During the 30-year interval between Mellaart’s dig and that of the next archaeologist (Ian Holder, also British) there was a "revolution" in archaeological theory, at least in the English speaking world, and a large part of Balter’s book is dedicated to discussing it. At least two major figures stand out in this "revolution". The first is an American Lewis Binford and second, David Clarke in the U.K. (who died young).

The movement they started was called the "New Archaeology" and it claimed to be an advancement over the previous generation of archaeologists such as Mortimer Wheeler and the Marxist Vere Gordon Childe among others. The advance was supposed to be more "scientific" and, at least with Binder, to incorporate archaeology within the larger field of anthropology. However, when one goes back and reads Wheeler and Childe the scientific and interpretive "advances" of the New Archaeology do not seem very substantial. Childe long ago recognized that, "In anthropology archaeology must play the same role as paleontology does in zoology."

It seems that all the fuss was about transcending a "cultural-historical" model of interpretation with one modeled on positivism and scientific procedure-- "just as new hypotheses in biology or physics had to be tested by laboratory experiments" so should archaeological theories about the past. Except that archaeology is neither biology nor physics--something, as we shall see, Childe very well knew.

Ian Hodder was brought up in the "New Archaeology" but was early on disturbed by the problem of "equifinality." Equifinality occurs when two or more hypotheses have exactly the same amount of evidence in their favor. Hodder discovered that his research on the problem of a particular spatial distribution of archaeological findings could be explained by mutually exclusive interpretations of the data. He asked himself how could "archaeologists be certain that their interpretations of the archaeological record were correct" if even the scientific method led to equifinality.

In stead of realizing that archaeologists can’t ever be certain of their interpretations because of the nature of their data, Hodder ended up creating an alternative paradigm to replace the "New Archaeology." Influenced by "ethnoarchaeology" – which attempts to read back into past cultures, such as those of the Neolithic, the culture traits of contemporary "primitive" peoples, and by contemporary anthropologists and some "postmodern" thinkers, he developed what has become known as "post-processual" archaeology (as opposed to "processual" another name for the "New" archaeology).

Hodder correctly noted that material culture "is meaningfully constituted" and, as Balter puts it, the artifacts that archeologists find "were once active elements in the living symbolic world of ancient peoples" (a fact well known to Childe). These symbols were not passive reflections of culture put played, as Hodder wrote ("Symbols in Action" 1982) "an active part in forming and giving meaning to social behavior." The problem is not that Hodder is wrong, but that post-processualism doesn’t seem to recognize that we can never know exactly what those symbols meant to past Neolithic peoples nor how they functioned in their social behavior.

The best we can do, as Marxism suggests, is try to deduce from the remains of the material culture what Neolithic life may have been like. The following quote, from "Man Makes Himself "(1936) by V. Gordon Childe is still resonate today and applies to the discoveries at Catalhoyuk as much as to any other Near Eastern Neolithic site. Childe wrote:

Undoubtedly the co-operative activities involved in "neo-lithic" life found outward expression in social and political institutions [and symbols-tr]. Undoubtedly such institutions were consolidated by magico-religious sanctions, by a more or less coherent system of beliefs and superstitions, by what Marxists would call an ideology. The new forces controlled by man as a result of the neolithic revolution [large scale agriculture, new tools, pottery, village life, etc.,-tr] and the knowledge gained and applied in the exercise of the new crafts must have reacted upon man’s outlook. They must have modified his institutions and his religion. But precisely what form neolithic institutions and beliefs assumed is unknowable.

However, under the influence of post modernism and neo-"Marxist" ideas Hodder and his students thought they "could open the door to understanding the meanings of the art and artifacts that excavations uncovered, rather than simply their functions." Hodder insisted that his method was not anti-science but it did discount "the positive approach to hypothesis testing." But hypothesis testing is the core of scientific method.

In 1993, after years of theory, Hodder got a major dig on which he could test his ideas. Turkey was open to having Catalhoyuk once again investigated, James Mellaart gave his blessings to Ian Hodder as his successor at the site, and so Hodder collected a team and left for Anatolia. The work at Catalhoyuk is now in its twelfth season (2005).

One of the great merits of Balter’s book is how it tells the story of this second expedition to open up Catalhoyuk. The story is more interesting than any novel, and his writing about the cast of characters, the archaeologists and others, who took part in the excavations brings archeology and the problems it deals with alive.

Especially interesting is Balter’s discussion of "the central unresolved mystery" of the Neolithic Revolution-- "why had it taken place at all?" Maybe at Catalhoyuk the answer to this question (why did people settle down and begin farming?) would be found.

Here, however, there seems to be a conflict between processual (scientific?) archaeology and post-processual (postmodern?) archaeology. After getting all the data you can from your dig, how do you interpret it? Do you do it as you go along, following Hodder’s view of interpretation "at the trowel’s edge," or do you wait until you have collected a significant amount of information and only then begin to speculate about its meaning?

For example, Balter quotes Ruth Tringham who thinks we should go beyond "the dry data and create ‘narratives’ about the past." Balter also reports that another member of the dig was inspired by this to confess that he had "always felt that excavation directors should be scientific novelists." I’m not sure we should have the license of novelists when we try to recreate the past. However, this individual later decides that he is a processual archaeologist at heart.

Even the central question, "the unresolved mystery" may not have a solution. Gordon Childe maintained that the "Neolithic" was an abstraction. What we call the "neolithic" is the result of, "Various human groups of different racial composition [a dated concept], living under diverse conditions of clime and soil, hav[ing] adopted the same ground ideas and adapted them differently to their several environments."

One should keep this in mind when reading Balter’s discussion in his chapter "The Neolithic Revolution." Here several different theories of the origin of the Neolithic life style are discussed as if they are mutually exclusive rather than complementary. Following Childe’s lead I see the theories discussed as part of a dialectical unity rather than as stark contradictions.

For example, Childe’s "oasis theory" (originally put forth in 1908 by the American R. Pumpelly) is discussed and seemingly dismissed. This is the theory that the first villages with Neolithic techniques developed around oases as the ancient environment dried out. This theory supposedly fell out of favor because geologists and botanists determined the Near East was "wetter rather than drier" in the period of the Holocene (the geological age we are presently in, the Recent Period beginning about 11,000 years ago).

But Childe was aware of the wetness of the Holocene. He mentions the higher rainfall in North Africa and "hither Asia" than is common today. And he qualifies his theory considerably. In "Man Makes Himself" he expressly states that his theory "may never have been fully realized in precisely this concrete form." What is more, he saw the development of the Neolithic as protracted. That is, the theory is put forth as a possible explanation for the origin of the Neolithic in some areas, but parallelism and simultaneity "cannot be proved." It should also be noted that "drier" appears to be back in vogue. John Noble Wilford "Camps on Cyprus May Have Belonged to Earliest Open-Water Seafarers" (New York Times, 11-22-05) writing about the Neolithic in the Near East (9000 to 10,000 BC) calls it a period "of drastic climate change" leading to "colder, drier conditions."

This means that the "hilly flanks theory" (that the Neolithic began in the foothills of hither Asia) developed by Robert and Linda Braidwood is not the "first major challenge" to Childe. It is a complementary theory for a different region of the Near East. I do not want to belabor the point. Several other theories (of varying degrees of intellectual rigor – including a pseudo-Marxist one based on the ‘Fuhrerprinzip’) are discussed in this chapter and the next, none of which is entitled to exclusivity but should be seen as complementary explanations for different facets of a continuous developmental process that has left behind many different archaeological clues at a variety of locations and times.

I would also note that every valid observation made about the Neolithic and about Catalhoyuk in the book ultimately rests on a solid scientific (Childean or New archaeological ) methodology.

As for the goddess and the bull – no one knows what symbolic or ideological role the female figurines found at the site played in the life of the people who lived there. They may have been "goddess" figurines or good luck fertility charms, or children's toys, or something we will never understand. As for the bull decorations, heads, horns, etc., again we cannot be sure what their ideological role was. As Childe suggests, we can project back theories about these symbols based on the knowledge we have from historical times but we will always risk mixing up science with fiction (as recognized also, Balter indicates, by Lynn Meskell one of Hodder’s ex-graduate students now at Columbia University.)

All in all, this book is an exciting read. Balter knows his stuff and anyone interested in the origins of civilization and the ultimate foundations of the modern world we live in will enjoy and learn from it. Besides that, there is basically an undergraduate education in archaeological theory included.

--Thomas Riggins is the book review editor for Political Affairs and can be reached at pabooks@politicalaffairs.net"

HometownAnnapolis.com, Lifestyle - Away We Go: Textile Museum is a best-dressed site

2006-01-15T15:41:00.000-05:00
HometownAnnapolis.com, Lifestyle - Away We Go: Textile Museum is a best-dressed site: "Away We Go: Textile Museum is a best-dressed site
By MARGARET HORTON EDSALL, For The Capital
Cozy up to Washington, D.C.'s Textile Museum, where a warm welcome awaits new and returning visitors.

This often overlooked attraction, a unique jewel in the capital city's crown of cultural landmarks, was designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope and is located on S Street in the northwest section of the city known as Kalorama.

As the only museum of its kind in the country and the foremost institution in the Western Hemisphere devoted to the preservation, study and exhibition of handmade textiles, the facility serves as a valuable resource for anyone who is curious about the textile arts.

The museum was originally the private residence of George Hewitt Myers (1875-1957), financier and heir to the Bristol Myers Co. In 1916, after purchasing the house next door, Mr. Myers merged the two properties into one address. In 1925, he opened these once private doors to the public, inviting everyone in to see his cherished collections of fabrics and rugs acquired during his world travels.

Over the years, The Textile Museum's holdings have increased. Today the facility has grown to be recognized nationally and internationally as a center committed to furthering the understanding of creative achievements in the textile arts. Additionally, the museum works to promote both an appreciation for and awareness of the varied cultures that produce traditional textiles.

The museum features a dazzling array of fabrics and rugs - more than 17,000 textiles and carpets - dating from 3,000 B.C. to the present. Its collections of Oriental carpets and pre-Columbian Peruvian, Islamic and Coptic textiles are among the finest in the world, and its assemblage of Spanish, Egyptian (Mamluk), Turkish and Persian works are unparalleled.

The facility also owns important pieces from China, India and Africa, as well as 20th-century ethnographic textiles made by indigenous peoples from America's Southwest, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador and Bolivia. Historical and contemporary quilts and fiber art complete its inventory.

Currently, the museum is featuring two special exhibitions that will remain mounted into February: "Rozome Masters of Japan" and "Silk & Leather: Splendid Attire of 19th-Century Central Asia."

'Rozome Masters'

"Rozome Masters of Japan," which runs through Feb. 12, features the work of 15 contemporary Japanese artists. The display includes kimonos, folding screens, panels and scrolls, all created using rozome, a wax-resist dyeing technique unique to Japan. The exhibition is complemented by a selection of Japanese textiles from The Textile Museum's own collections.

Rozome has roots in ancient Japan, dating to the Nara period (645-794). It was eclipsed by other resist-dye techniques after the Heian period (794-1185), but experienced a revival in popularity during the early part of the 20th century, when Kyoto-based kimono specialists began to re-examine the possibilities of the wax-resist medium.

Rozome flourished after World War II, when artists became interested in the technique as a vehicle for unique image-making and self-expression on cloth. Today, in the hands of talented artists, rozome is used to create technically breathtaking, complex works.

Unlike other wax-resist dyeing techniques, such as the batik method of applying wax to cloth before repeatedly immersing the cloth in dye baths, rozome involves the use of a brush to apply the wax and dye directly onto the fabric. This provides greater control in the use of color and allows the artist to create areas of subtle shading and depth rarely seen in other wax-resist textile arts.

Two programs have been scheduled to complement the Rozome exhibition:

On Thursday, the public will have a unique opportunity to savor some of the best of contemporary Japan, including exquisite textiles and fine sakes, at a special tour and tasting event, "The Art of Rozome Meets the World of Sake."

Rebecca A.T. Stevens, the museum's consulting curator for contemporary textiles, will give in-depth gallery tours of the special exhibition. Local sake specialist Christian Choi and sommelier Keita Akaboshi will preside over the tasting, presenting a variety of sakes to sample and explaining the various grades of sakes. A selection of Japanese appetizers will accompany the sakes.

The fee is $45 and advance registration is required. For more information, including time of event, call 202-667-0441, Ext. 49.

At 10:30 a.m. Feb. 4, the museum will present the lecture and workshop "Everyday Rozome: Hot Wax and High Design in Japanese Batik Kimono."

For this program, Japanese textile specialist Ann Marie Moeller will display a selection of rozome-decorated kimonos and kimono jackets. She also will explore the realm of "hip" kimono fashions of the 1950s The program is free and reservations are not required.

'Silk & Leather'

"Silk & Leather: Splendid Attire of 19th-Century Central Asia," which runs through Feb. 26, features 38 garments and accessories from the 1800s, each worn by the ruling class and elite of the region, which today encompasses Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and part of Kazakhstan. Included among the visually stunning array of articles are coats, children's clothing and accessory items such as purses, pouches, veils, belts, boots and hats.

Silk and leather have lengthy, intertwined histories as materials for human dress in Central Asia. Silk was first and most prolifically produced in China, where its source and production methods were closely guarded secrets for centuries until they were carried to Central Asia and beyond.

Leather, felt and fur as well as a distinctive clothing style that included trousers made life easier for the horse-riding, nomadic pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe bordering China and Central Asia. The nomads' mobile economy and potent cavalry enabled them to extort vast quantities of coveted luxury goods from the Chinese - first and foremost silk - which they both consumed and sold. The copious production of silk along with the continued use of leather were part of the spectacular blossoming of the textile and related arts during the 19th century in West Central Asia.

How to get there: To reach The Textile Museum, trek west on Route 50 toward Washington, D.C.; continue on New York Avenue into the city, then pick up Massachusetts Avenue; proceed on Massachusetts around Dupont and Sheridan circles; once past Sheridan Circle, look for S Street on the right (near 24th Street); turn right onto S Street and watch for the property on the right. On-street parking is available but limited; some spaces are free, others are metered. (Meters accept only quarters.) The museum is located close to the Q Street exit of the Dupont Circle Metro stop (Red Line).

awaywego@ hometownannapolis.com"

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Afghan Ambassador's Wife Speaks at the Minasian Rug Company in Evanston, Ill.

2006-01-13T18:27:00.000-05:00
U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Afghan Ambassador's Wife Speaks in Evanston, Ill. on Jan. 19": "Afghan Ambassador's Wife Speaks in Evanston, Ill. on Jan. 19

1/13/2006 2:25:00 PM
Contact: Franco La Marca of Arzu, 312-804-4615 or fslamarca@aol.com

CHICAGO, Jan. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Shamim Jawad, wife of His Excellency Said T. Jawad, Afghan ambassador to the United States, will speak at the opening night reception for Arzu's exhibit at the Minasian Rug Company in Evanston, Ill. Additional speaker includes Arzu's Founder and President Connie Duckworth. The ongoing exhibit celebrates the artistry of Afghan rug making.

A Chicago-based not-for-profit, Arzu's mission is to improve the lives of Afghan women, their families and communities, through the sourcing of handcrafted Afghan rugs.

The elegant reception will feature Arzu's rug collection on exhibit alongside photos of the Afghan women that wove them in hope of generating rug sales and donations to facilitate Arzu's cause. Guests will enjoy cocktails and assorted appetizers provided by Jewell Events Catering. The guest list of over 200 VIPs includes prominent members of Chicago's business, finance, diplomatic, and design communities. The reception promises to be a highlight of Chicago's winter social calendar. RSVPs are not required but advised, as space is limited.

Mrs. Jawad will be speaking on current changes in Afghan society as well as the positive impact the U.S. and Arzu have had on the lives of the destitute women and their families. Duckworth will emphasize the need for private sector investment by giving an overview of Arzu's mission, accomplishments, and current direction.

All Arzu rugs are woven on looms in the homes of the weavers. Each unique piece is hand-woven and made with natural dyes. They range from 3' x 5' to 8' x 14' with prices from $600 to $15,000. Each rug weaves a story, reflecting thoughts, experiences and emotions of the women weavers. The rugs have attracted the attention of prominent Chicago designer, Arzu rug owner and confirmed guest, Holly Hunt:

"These handmade rugs reflect a beauty not possible in machine made rugs. I appreciate the love, care and time these women put into making these rugs to support their families."

Event Details:

WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 19, Reception 6:30 – 9 p.m.

WHERE: Minasian Rug Company, 1244 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60202

To RSVP, please contact Natalie Rulong: 312-321-8664

Minasian Rug Company Showroom Hours: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

To view Arzu rugs by appointment, please contact Suzana Denovich, sales director, Arzu, Inc. at: 312-321-8675 or to view Arzu rugs online: http://www.arzurugs.org

Arzu, meaning "hope" in Dari, breaks the cycle of poverty by compensating the women weavers at 150 percent of the prevailing rate and by providing access to education and healthcare. Proceeds from the rug sales go directly to the Afghan Operations Program. Arzu, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization.

Business woman and social entrepreneur Connie Duckworth is an active member of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations initiative on women and foreign policy, and an advisory director of the Business Council for Peace. She is a retired partner and managing director of Goldman, Sachs, & Co., where she was named the first woman sales and trading partner in the firm's history during her 20 year career.

http://www.usnewswire.com/"

courant.com | The Ugly Side Of Those Beautiful Rugs

2006-01-09T15:36:00.000-05:00
courant.com | The Ugly Side Of Those Beautiful Rugs: "NE MAGAZINE

The Ugly Side Of Those Beautiful Rugs
January 8, 2006
I was sitting at a lunch table at a multinational consumer conference when I first learned about Rugmark, an international organization that rescues children from slavery at the rug looms in India, Nepal and Pakistan. One story never left me: that of a 5-year-old boy who was stolen from his family when his parents refused to sell him for three dollars.

Child slavery and exploitation still constitute a huge portion of the labor force that creates those beautiful Oriental rugs that consumers love so much. According to the Rugmark Foundation, 300,000 children are illegally forced to work in the carpet industries of India, Nepal and Pakistan, the Big Three in hand-made Oriental carpets. These youngsters are valuable because their small fingers are perfect for the tedious work of hand-knotting.

ADVERTISEMENT

To be clear, we're not talking about all child labor, such as children helping out on a family farm while still attending school. We are talking about exploitive labor, where children are actually enslaved or are forced to work 12 to 16 hours a day in sweatshop conditions and paid so little they can barely buy a bowl of food for dinner. These are children who are abused, who sleep on the floor next to their looms and have no hope of ever getting out unless they get sick, die or are sold for sexual exploitation.

Since 1995, the Washington-based Rugmark Foundation has rescued 3,000 of these children and, with their families' permission (if there is a family), brought them into Rugmark boarding schools where they get safe housing, food and an education.Rugmark has prevented enslavement of thousands more through inspection, legislation and publicity.

It hasn't come easily.

After Iran banned children from rug-making in the 1970s, (yes, Iran), production moved to South Asia where the labor force was comprised largely of children, some as young as 5. Some of these kids are sold for a few dollars by parents desperate to keep the rest of the family alive. Others are simply ensnared by poverty. Once in, they can't get out because they are paid almost nothing or because the loom owners claim the kids owe them "debts" and therefore any "pay" is retained. Such practices are banned by the United Nations and the International Labor Office and considered slavery.

The Rugmark Foundation works by rescuing these children and by certifying loom owners who use no child labor and permitting them to attach the RUGMARK label to their products. The foundation makes both announced and unannounced inspections. The RUGMARK label, a smiling cartoon face against a carpet background, bears a certification number that can be traced back to the loom where the rug was made to prevent misuse. The foundation has no police authority. Its strength comes from consumer awareness and action: Buyers can help stop illegal child labor by purchasing only RUGMARK certified carpets or those approved by other oversight organizations.

This human tragedy is nowhere near resolution. According to Nina Smith, executive director of the foundation, Rugmark certifies only 1 percent of the $1.2 billion worth of Oriental rugs sold annually in the United States, about half of them coming from the Big Three. There are 30 U.S. import companies selling RUGMARK certified carpets to 800 retailers around the country.

Rugmark hopes to increase its share of certified carpets to 15 percent within the next decade through a consumer awareness program. "We believe that this level of market penetration could completely eliminate exploitative child labor in the rug industries of India, Nepal and Pakistan," Smith said.

But the system can't work without the commitment of the importers and retailers. They make the decision whether to deal in illegal labor-free rugs - or to close their eyes. One importer, Emma Gardner Design LLC. in Litchfield, has made that commitment. As a licensee of the Rugmark Foundation, Emma Gardner deals only in certified, child labor-free carpets. Its sole Connecticut retailer is Cobble Court in Litchfield.

Company president Patrick McDarrah is passionate about the subject. He says, "The biggest problem," he says, "is dealer apathy. Sitting in between manufacturers and consumers, they could really make a difference."

I made random calls to some of the large Oriental carpet retailers around the state to learn whether they deal in RUGMARK certified carpets. Beside Cobble Court, the only other one is Circa 2000 in Westport (supplied by New Moon). No one from Kaoud's returned my calls, and Mike Norman of Pasha's Rugs in West Hartford declined to discuss the matter.

John Kebabian, Jr., owner of Kebabian's in New Haven, says he insures against illegal child labor by maintaining his own group of home weavers. This doesn't mean he uses no child labor, just no illegal child labor. He says any children working on his rugs are doing so in their own homes and under the supervision of their parents, not in sweatshops.

But he paints a bleak picture in India. "I've seen traders in New Delhi with huge warehouses filled with junk. They don't care who made them. The rugs [are shipped here] and sold at phony going-out-of-business sales, auctions, and fraternal halls and estate sales. [And some] retailers set an artificially high price and then discount it, and the buyers think they're getting a bargain."

So, if carpets don't have the Rugmark or other oversight organizations' certification, how does the consumer know if they were made with illegal child labor? "The consumer can't know because the dealers don't know. Most of their rugs are consigned. They can't even tell you where they came from," says Kebabian.

Joe Namnoun, owner of J. Namnoun's Oriental Rug Gallery in Hartford, says he protects against illegal child labor by dealing in only high-end rugs, $50 a square foot and up. "The higher up the food chain you go, the less child labor you have. These are sophisticated, controlled designs and you don't see child labor there."

To avoid the cheaper carpets that are more likely to be made by children, Namnoun also warns against ridiculously high percent-off sales. "Does anyone really believe that you're going to get a $10,000 rug for $3,000?" adding that retailers who advertise this way often keep those same sale signs on for long periods. "They're not really sales and you're usually getting low-end, low-quality products."

Not all dealers support attempts to end child labor. Armen Proudian, owner of A T Proudian, Inc. of Greenwich, believes we should leave well enough alone. He says he doesn't "belong or subscribe to any of these [oversight] organizations." Now he deals mostly in antique rugs but concedes, "At one time, we were direct importers and of course we used child labor. Were these kids underage? Hell, yes. Were they underpaid? Hell, yes. But did we pay them according to their standards? Hell, yes, and that meant they could eat.

"You don't want to get a flat tire in one of these places because about eight kids will come and fight to the death to change the tire. You can yell about child labor and have the kids starve to death or allow them to work and survive." Proudian dismisses "pompous ass" politicians who "try to impose our standards on people barely able to survive."

"I'm not talking about slavery," he said. "My partners, who are Pakistani, make sure they get paid so they can eat."

Smith disagrees. "This just keeps them in the cycle of poverty." She emphasizes that Rugmark is not shutting down looms, but rather providing an alternative to exploitative child labor that keeps these kids in misery, often for a lifetime.

Says McDarrah, "... we all know that, label or not, (the) issue is who made the rugs and that it is not acceptable to support child labor. We are hoping that our industry can get to where apparel is now, after the Nike and other scandals of the too recent past... the point is not, `yes we know they are under aged and underpaid but it's OK because that's the way it is over there.' It is that exploitation is always wrong."

"Retailers, manufacturers and consumers who choose to ignore the facts have blood on their hands," McDarrah said.

The University of Connecticut's Human Rights Institute has the only UNESCO Chair in Human Rights in the USA. Visit www.humanrights.uconn.edu

June Sandra Neal is a freelance writer in West Hartford. She was director of communications and consumer education for the state Department of Consumer Protection for 23 years."

Thousands Visited Rug Exhibition in Tehran - Persian Journal Latest Iran news & Iranian Newspaper

2006-01-09T07:36:00.000-05:00
Thousands Visited Rug Exhibition in Tehran - Persian Journal Latest Iran news & Iranian Newspaper: "Culture Jan 8th, 2006 - 19:49:25
Page One > Culture

Thousands Visited Rug Exhibition in Tehran
Jan 8, 2006
More than 15,000 individuals visited the exhibition of invaluable Persian carpets which was held in Saad Abad Palace Complex from 28th of December to 7th of January.

"Because of the cultural significance of the museums, they are best places for holding such exhibitions. We exhibited some invaluable and unique carpets woven by master Iranian artists in Saad Abad Complex. Once there used to be even some carpet workshops in this complex which showed how rugs are woven. We should teach today's generation to continue the art of their ancestors," said Mohammad Abdolalipour, manager of Saad Abad historical-cultural complex.

According to Abdolalipour, exclusion of carpet exhibitions from the programs of museums and cultural centers has resulted in considering them as means of trade rather than looking at carpets as beautiful pieces of art, while both aspects should be taken into account. Thus, we must do our best to bring carpets into the museums and make people look at them as pieces of art rather than pure financial assets.

The manager of Saad Abad complex also expressed his satisfaction of the attendance of a more specialized team during this exhibition compared to last year's exhibition, and expressed hope for an even more specialized one for next year.

Persian carpets are the most exquisite form of art, inherited from generation to generation in Iran. Persian carpets enjoy a special reputation in the world. Perhaps the most important time in the history of Persian carpets came when the Safavid kings were ruling over Persia (1499-1722 AD). Indeed, the first concrete proofs of this craft dates back to this period. During the reign of Shah Abbas, the Safavid king (1571-1629), commerce and crafts prospered in Persia. Shah Abbas encouraged contacts and trades with Europe and transformed his new capital city which was Isfahan back then, into one of the most glorious cities of Persia. He also created a court workshop for carpets where skilled designers and craftsmen set to work to create splendid specimens.

Most of these carpets were made of silk, with gold and silver threads adding even more embellishments.

Today, approximately 1500 examples of unique Persian carpets are preserved in various museums and in private collections worldwide."

Guidelines for how Iran must treat Armenian Christians

2006-01-05T16:48:00.000-05:00
Iran Trade Point -: " iv. In the Magazine ‘Al Hukam’ Vol. II No. 47 of 1906, there appeared an article saying that the Russians in 1905 found an order of Hazrath Ali, in his own hand-writing which was in Koofi script. This was found in a monastry of Ardabail, cief town of Azer Baijaan. This letter was an amnesty deed to the monastry and the Christians of Ardabail. Translation of this deed appeared in the Russian newspapers and thence it was translated in the Turkish papers and in the Arabic Magazines of Cairo and Bairuth, and lots of commentating articles on the spirit of toleration and the treatment of conquered by Islam were written by the Russians and Arab Christians. Apparently from the Magazine Hablul Mateen it was translated by the Al Hukam.

In this deed Hazrath says that as a caliph and a ruler, he promises safety and security of life, property, honour, social status and religious freedom of Armanian Christians. This order should be obeyed by his officers and by his successors. The Christians should not be maltreated or looked down because they are non-Muslims. So long as they do not try to betray and injure the cause of the state or Islam they should not be molested and should be allowed to practice their religion and trades freely and openly. Islam teaches us to carry a message of peace with us and improve the status of society wherever we go and the best way to achieve this is to create amity, friendliness and concord between human-beings; therefor, Muslims should try to develop friendship of these people and should never resort to wrong use of power, force and arrogance. They should not be over-taxed, should not be humiliated and should not be forced out of their homes, lands and trades. Their priests should be treated with due respects, their monastries should be protected, they should be allowed to carry on their lectures, teachings and preachings as usual their religious ceremonies should not be prohibited. If they want to build their places of worship then fallow and ownerless lands should be allotted to them. One, who disobeys this order is fallow and ownerless lands should be allotted to them. One, who disobeys this order is going against the orders of God and the Holy prophet (A.S.) and will deserve His Wrath."

Iran Daily - Zanjan’s Qajari Buildings Attract More Tourists

2006-01-04T21:33:00.001-05:00
Iran Daily - Arts & Culture - 08/25/05: "Zanjan’s Qajari Buildings Attract More Tourists
Farzaneh Shokri
Historical buildings from the Qajar era have become the main attraction for tourists visiting the western province of Zanjan.
Zanjan’s old marketplace (Bazaar), Zolfaqari Palace, Jame’ Seyed Mosque, Lady (Khanom) Mosque, Mir Bahaeddin Bridge, Sardar Bridge are among the examples of Qajar architecture in the city.
Though several ancient buildings are threatened with destruction, the splendor of the ancient architecture has won the admiration of every visitor.
The construction of the traditional marketplace (Bazaar) began in 1834 under the Qajari king, Agha Mohammad Khan and ended under Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.
Several mosques, guesthouses and public baths were added to the compound in 1945.
The marketplace is built in a straight line--upward and downward--and divided into the eastern and western wings.
Corridors separate the areas according to craftsmanship. For example, the sections reserved for goldsmiths, cloth merchant, hat makers, tinsmith and other crafts are separate from each other.
There are five ancient mosques--Chehelsotoon (40 pillars), Agha Seyed Fathollah, Hojjatoleslam, Jame’ Mosque and Molla Mosque--which have added to the splendid architecture of Zanjan’s marketplace.
An Iran Daily reporter visiting the city cited Zolfaqari Palace as another heritage of Qajar architecture which contributed to the historical identity of Zanjan.
The palace has interior and exterior departments which include administrative sections. It was built in Qajar era before the construction of Zolfaqari Street (modern Taleqani).
Sections of the palace are currently in ruins. Of course, the exterior part of the building remained durable. Zolfaqari Palace was built in two stories. The underground part of the building has water storage facilities and the entire design is based on European Gothic architecture.
Zolfaqari Palace was built in the late Qajar era.
Jame’ Seyed Mosque, which is situated in the heart of the city, is yet another edifice of cultural heritage. It is linked to Qeisarieh market from the west, to an alley from the east to Imam Street from north and Sabze Meidan from south.
Prior to the construction of the modern Imam Street, the Mosque was linked to a square in front of Darol-Hokoumeh (Administrative Building).
The mosque was built by Mirza, the eleventh son of Fath Ali Shah of Qajar when he was the governor of Zanjan.
Lady (Khanom) Mosque was also constructed during the Qajar reign. It is located at Fakhim-oddoleh on present-day Imam Street. It has interesting interior decorations of tiles and brick works.
It has a minaret for Azan (call to prayers at mosque three times a day). There is spiral stairway through which the muezzin, the person who calls people to prayers, goes up to the minaret.
The mosque enjoys unique interior decoration.
Another historical structure, Mir Bahaeddin Bridge, called Pol-e Kohneh (old bridge), was built in the southern part of Zanjan over Zanjan-Roud (river). It has helped villages living on the other side of the river have access to Zanjan.
It is 100 meter long, 6.7 meters wide and 12 high from the surface of the river.
Of course, modern bridge has been built linking Zanjan to cities in Kurdestan province.
Pol-e-Kohneh has decorative arches and was built under Nasser-eddin Shah of Qajar.
In addition Zanjan also boasts of the famous Soltanieh Dome, a cultural heritage structure in the suburbs of Zanjan, which is on UNESCO’s global heritage list."

UAE: Dubai Shopping Festival host Carpet Oasis - Textile - Business News - Textile News

2006-01-04T07:41:00.000-05:00
UAE: Dubai Shopping Festival host Carpet Oasis - Textile - Business News - Textile News: "UAE: Dubai Shopping Festival host Carpet Oasis

ABU DHABI: Carpet Oasis, a unique international exhibition introduced ten years ago, will display over 150000 masterpieces of hand woven carpets, rugs and traditional souvenirs at Dubai Shopping Festival, as said to sources on January 03.

Further event comprise of a rare, unique and expensive carpets made from exquisite materials that date back hundreds of years.

Carpets on display are a collection from different countries best known for their carpets.
Famous Persian carpets from Isfahan, Qumm, Na`een, Hamdan and Tabreez, and also Turkish 'Hariki' carpets along with those from various regions of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, can all be found here.

Since its inception in 1996, the sales figures of the Oasis have been rising sharply, year after year. Absence of taxes on direct sales and on re-export operations provides the traders and merchants with respectable bargains."